Neighbors
On paper, Mac (Seth Rogen: This is the End) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne: Insidious: Chapter 2) are adults. They’re married. They have a baby. And they just sunk all of their money into a house in a perfect suburban neighborhood. In reality, both Mac and Kelly are a little bored with their new responsible life and jealous of friends who still party all night.
The couple hopes for a change in routine and maybe some interesting neighbors. Dreaming for a progressive couple with children — or at least a Taco Bell — to take over the vacant house next door, the Radners are horrified when fraternity Delta Psi moves in. Known for loud, outrageous parties, Delta Psi’s last frat house burned down after an unfortunate fireworks incident.
Priding themselves on being cool, the Radners visit the fraternity, introduce themselves and tell the boys to keep it down, offering marijuana from Mac’s personal stash. Fraternity leaders Teddy (Zac Efron: That Awkward Moment) and Pete (Dave Franco: The LEGO Movie) befriend the Radners, inviting them to a wild party and asking for a promise to call the boys rather than the cops.
After a night of drugs, loud music and youthful hijinks, Kelly and Mac are hung over and exhausted. They vow to grow up. Their neighbors are still ready to party. After a week of nonstop loud music, wild parties and drunken antics, the Radners have had it with Delta Psi. Their baby is up all night, they get little sleep and worst of all, Delta Psi isn’t even inviting them back.
Fed up, the Radners call the cops.
This act of vengeance sparks a war between Delta Psi and the Radners. The brothers want to make the old couple suffer. Kelly and Mac want the college to revoke the fraternity’s charter. As the war escalates, pranks become more dangerous until mutual destruction seems the most likely outcome.
Filled with nudity, cursing and brutal physical comedy, Neighbors is hilariously inappropriate. Director Nicholas Stoller (The Five Year Engagement) makes sure the movie earns its R rating with plenty of off-color humor and outrageous scenes, including a fight that features Rogen and Efron using adult toys in lieu of swords.
While it’s certainly not sophisticated humor, it’s effective thanks to a great cast. As the couple desperate to prove they’re still cool, Rogen and Byrne are a dynamic duo. Both commit so fully to the Radners’ outrageous plans that you can’t help but laugh at their shared insanity. Rogen plays the same character he does in every movie: an affable stoner dealing with adult responsibilities against his will. It’s not too hard to see how Mac could get drawn into a battle with boys who represent everything he loved in college.
Byrne is refreshing as a straight woman who becomes more unhinged and diabolical as the Delta Psi boys threaten. It’s also nice to have a female lead openly question why she must always be the level-headed partner in a relationship. Kelly bristles at the thought that being a mother automatically means she needs to be responsible for the household. Perhaps she shouldn’t be, as her strategies against the Delta Psi boys would make Patton quake in his boots.
Efron is still a dismal actor, but he was born to play the role of a dim-bulb frat boy with well-toned abs and a vindictive streak. Stoller keeps his emotional beats to a bare minimum, using Efron’s flat performance to his advantage. Teddy has nothing to do but obsess over “getting even with the old people”; he certainly wouldn’t be studying or looking for a post-collegiate job.
I admit to laughing along with the audience at this incredibly crude comedy, but I can’t in good conscience recommend Neighbors to a wide audience. If you loved The Heat, Bridesmaids and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, then Neighbors will delight you. But don’t go unprepared; several aghast parents rushed their children out of as I watched.