Review of The Good Neighbor (2016) by Jennifer O — 03 Jan 2017

Not sure why so many are down on this film. I enjoyed it quite a bit and, yes, found it very suspenseful. With the appearance of the court scenes, you just knew something went awry. At this point, you were locked in trying to figure out just who "done it" and why.

What else is interesting about the film is the commentary on the current fascination with pranks and YouTuber privacy interventions, or people so focused on getting views and likes that boundaries are thrown to the wayside, which is manifested in Ethan and Sean's "social experiment." As Sean speaks about the experiment, he nearly salivates in excitement at the idea that something "important" has just occurred in their attempt to influence Grainey's behavior while totally oblivious to the illegality and potential serious repercussions of their actions.

Such a story certainly wouldn't keep for a lengthy period of time, thus the ninety eight minutes lends itself to a satisfactory outcome. As the story progresses, what's happening becomes more and more evident to the viewer as each incident brings to Grainey memories of his wife. To a degree, the death of Grainey's wife is that which has made him angry and bitter, the same emotions that have rubbed Ethan the wrong way, and partially his reason for not caring too much about how the experiment would affect this "piece of shit.".

Ultimately, Grainey takes his life when he sees the bell Ethan has brought up from the basement, a bell he gave his wife as she suffered from cancer, telling her, "just ring it any time you need me" The implication of the bell to Grainey being that his wife was calling to him from the other side.

In conclusion, the boys are let off with a minor sentence, but as Ethan gazes at the reporters outside the courtroom with fascination, the viewer gets the notion that this is certainly not the last time he will be playing with fire. A fine film of relevant social commentary.