Review of Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016) by Loyal D — 19 May 2016

Too often when Movie Fans watch a sequel, the best they can hope for is something that equals the enjoyment of seeing the original. This is especially true for comedy sequels, but it isn't always this way. In fact, although they often don't live up to it, comedy sequels may have an even greater potential than sequels in other genres to surpass the quality of their predecessors. When a returning team of writers, producers/director(s) and actors truly understand what made the first film work well - and have a few new ideas, they can build upon their original work and make an even better movie the second (or third) time around. In this decade alone, I would suggest that is exactly what happened with the "Pitch Perfect", "Dumb and Dumber", "Anchorman", "Grown Ups", and (especially) the "Harold & Kumar" franchises. Then, along comes "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" (R, 1:32) to accomplish the same feat.

Returning from 2014's "Neighbors" are director Nicholas Stoller, writers Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O'Brien and stars Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jerrod Carmichael, Ike Barinholtz, Carla Gallo, Hannibal Buress, Brian Huskey, Lisa Kudrow and even the adorable Zoey Vargas and Elise Vargas (but, sadly, no appearance by "The Lonely Island"). For the sequel, the writing team is joined by Stoller, Rogen and Evan Goldberg, while Chloë Grace Moretz, Kiersey Clemons, Beanie Feldstein expand the cast - and the comic possibilities for the new plot which is just similar enough to the original to be familiar and just original enough to be fresh and entertaining.

Picking up a couple years after the original left off, "Neighbors 2" sees Mac and Kelly Radner (Rogen and Byrne) and their daughter, Stella (the Vargas girls) selling their house so they can upgrade, in anticipation or expanding their little family. Having made a deal with another young couple (Sam Richardson and Abbi Jacobson) to buy their home, they enter their 30-day escrow period... even though the Radners don't realize what escrow means. While using the word as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb and with various prefixes/suffixes, Mac and Kelly come to understand that their buyers can pull out of the deal if they discover a problem with the home (or the neighbors) within the next month.

Unfortunately for the Radners, a college sorority has just moved in to the house that was occupied by the fraternity Delta Psi Beta in the first film. The sorority is called Kappa Nu and has just been started by three freshmen named Shelby (Moretz), Beth (Clemons) and Nora (Feldstein). This trio of new friends met at a rush orientation for another sorority that didn't suit their awkward, free-spirited personalities. They also have a big problem with the rule against sororities throwing parties and they find fraternity parties demeaning to women, so they decide to do it their way. The sorority is all about big, loud parties, which causes a great deal of alarm for the escrowing folks on the other side of Kappa Nu's driveway.

Fortunately for the Radners, they have help as they scheme to get rid of the sorority before Kappa Nu can de-escrow the hell out of Mac and Kelly's house. Terry Sanders (Efron), the former President of Delta Psi Beta and former arch-nemesis of insecure, quiet-appreciating young parents, is going through a bit of a crisis of his own. After a surprising development causes him to move out of the apartment that he was sharing with frat brother and former co-conspirator, Pete Ragazolli (Franco), Terry is kind of adrift in a scary sea of adultness. After a chance meeting, Terry is basically hired by Shelby, Beth and Nora to help them build their new sorority, but after they tire of his presence and reject him for being no fun (!) - and old (!!), Terry goes next door and offers to help Mac and Terry undo what he done did. With Terry's skills and intense need for purpose and appreciation, plus the help of their friends, Jimmy and Paula (Barinholtz and Gallo), who are now expecting a baby of their own, the Radners and company are all set to go to war with the Kappa Nus. The ensuing shenanigans are wild, funny and entertaining.

"Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" improves upon its predecessor, but overplays its hand. One thing that always bothered me about "Neighbors" is that its tit-for-frat schemes came across as more mean-spirited than funny. This time around, the plots and pranks on both sides of the driveway are just as over-the-top, but more humorous. The dialog and the one-upwomanship are clever and often laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are mostly colorful and amusing, but some of the characterizations are overplayed. The girls of Kappa Nu show no signs of the insecurity that they keep complaining has plagued them for years, Efron's character is uncharacteristically insecure and needy, and all of the returning characters seem even dumber than in the original. Some of the jokes involving the Radners' toddler might make even the most open-minded comedy-loving parents in the audience uncomfortable and a couple of the sight gags may make an even higher percentage of Movie Fans want to... gag. In the end, however, the story brings its various conflicts to satisfying resolutions. In spite of its excesses, this sequel has raised the stock of the franchise and many will find these neighbors well worth visiting. "B".