Review of Neighbors (2014) by Lloyd F — 18 May 2016

Say what you will about Seth Rogen lead comedies, but of all the comedies coming out today, his are among the best. When the first trailer for the film "Neighbors" dropped, many people shrugged it off as a movie that would be a fine watch with a bunch of friends. While the film is exactly that, it is much better than fine. In this very surprising film, director Nicholas Stoller (of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Get Him to the Greek" fame) creates a fued between neighbors unlike anything I have seen in a while.

Following a fraternity moving in next to Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne), a recently married couple who is taking care of their first baby, this plot could have either been a full on drama of a family trying to deal with that, or a full on comedy, which this film delivers on in spades. Zac Efron and Seth Rogen play off each other amazingly well and I bought every one of their motives throughout the film. While Mac and Kelly try to act cool to earn respect, they come up with plans to ruin the fraternity, while the fraternity is reciprocating exactly that. It is comedies like this that really work with great writers at the helm.

What is odd is that the two writers had never really done anything huge as far as screenplays go, but producing great comedies like "The 40 Year Old Virgin," "Talladega Nights," or "Funny People" is obviously what got their foot in the door for this. "Neighbors" is very cleverly written in how it's scenarios play out, how smart these characters become, while still finding the time to slow down, develop characters, and also have insanely bat-shit crazy party sequences.

"Neighbors is an absolute blast of a film. There really is not much else to say about this film. It is a very straight forward fued comedy with more heart than you would come to expect from a film like this, more character development than what is needed, and a cast that adds to all of those elements. Well-directed, hilarious in almost every scene, and far better than anyone could have predicted it to be, "Neighbors" hits on all cylinders. The one flaw I find when watching this film is that it relies a little too much on dick jokes when it can't find anything clever to do. That could have been improve for all I know, but nevertheless, that is my biggest complaint. "Neighbors" is fun from beginning to end. It's nothing spectacular, but for the type of story it is presenting, what more could you want?