On the surface, Neighbors is a bawdy frat comedy. Occasionally you catch a glimmer of a heartfelt look at the trials of leaving behind youth and growing up peeking through the filth on top, but really, it’s a lewd and hilarious affair. Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) are a young married couple. They have a new daughter (seriously, this baby is adorable), a new house in suburbia and all the baggage that goes with it, including lack of a sex life or social activities. A normal transition from being young and carefree to being responsible parents. That is until the house next door is taken over by the Delta Psi Beta fraternity. Led by President Teddy (Zach Efron) and right hand man, Pete (Dave Franco), these are brothers set on etching their names into the history of their Fraternity with their partying ways. Fearful of the disruption to their lives, the young couple ingratiate themselves to the Frat, recapturing their youth in the process. But one night, a phone call to the police over a noise disturbance leads to tit for tat retribution, which escalates quickly. What unravels features property damage, dangerous pranks, numerous head injuries, a dildo yard sale and more.
As Neighbors opens, we discover two parents, new to parenthood and grownup life, basically trying to hold on to their youth. The arrival of the fraternity hits on two levels; the first, an opportunity to indulge and recapture their youth and secondly, an inconvenience and disruption to their ability to raise their child. This conflict forms the start of the film and produces some interesting, sweet, and relatable moments. The highlighting of the generational differences is note perfect. A conversation over “who is your Batman?” sums up the divide between Mac and Teddy perfectly and is also hilarious. There are ruminations on good parenting; the couple don’t want to be the “uncool” people next door and the film shows us early on their efforts to stay young and active, which fail abysmally. This adult and parental element restrains the film from being a full on “Bro” comedy. There is a lot to empathize with, showing how people are torn between clinging onto what they want to do and what they should do. As the film continues this theme is somewhat discarded, the baby an afterthought in regards to plot terms and the one-upmanship between the feuding neighbors takes over. It’s a more predictable path for the film to follow but, to be honest, doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.
After the fuse is lit between the “family and fraternity,” jokes come thick and fast. A group of guys determined to cement their place in the history of a fraternity that “apparently” invented such legendary things as beer pong and toga parties, as told in amusing flashbacks, is always going to entertain and the film doesn’t disappoint. Whether it be gross out humor, pop culture references (will they age well?) or a sequence showing the build up to a Robert De Niro party that absolutely killed me. If something doesn’t make you laugh here, give it 30 seconds and you’ll find something else that will. What is really great about Neighbors is that it makes you sympathetic to both sides. You feel those yearnings yourself, the stress, and the irritation, yourself. It is not as nonstop with the vulgarity as This is the End. The reality of the situation is more sobering and roots the film well.
Rogen and Byrne have good chemistry as the new parents trying to do the right thing but are seduced into the youthful orbit of their neighbors. Seth Rogen is …well, he’s fucking Seth Rogen, that’s his character/personality. Is he maturing? No, he’s in a film dealing with more adult themes but he’s still the same old Seth Rogen. These types of comedies usually give the female cast members little to do or portray them as buzzkills, but thankfully Byrne’s character is fleshed out well and given more to do. She comes across a little delicate at times but overall does well. At the beginning, there is really a natural rapport between Effron and Rogen, their bonding is rather sweet and makes the split between them actually kind of sad. Inevitable, but sad. Effron’s take on the Frat President is fascinating. He exudes a real darkness later on and nails the aspirations of greatness while conveying this glory seeking guy to be pretty hollow and dumb. It’s time he tackled a darker, more intense and perhaps sinister role because there are times here where he embodies it perfectly. The rest of the cast are great, notably Franco as Pete, and there are some delightful faces who popup throughout.
Director Nicholas Stoller delivers a film that feels somewhat like Animal House crossed with Spring Breakers. It has less heart than his first directorial outing Forgetting Sarah Marshall and compensates with cranking up the crude, funny content. Neighbors is far less subtle, a given when you have a character whose name is “Assjuice.” At times shot really well, the drug fueled party scenes being a standout, his real success here is in coaxing the cast to deliver everything so well. It’s not perfect though. Carla Gallo is a little grating as Kelly’s best friend, some of the CGI behind some of the physical effects is a tad obvious for my liking and a scene involving breast milk seems leveraged in purely for the gross out factor. But these are small niggles. Neighbors is tightly scripted, well paced and laced with comedy. You know roughly what you’re letting yourself in for with this sort of film and it doesn’t disappoint.
Neighbors is crude and at times over the top, however the charm of the cast dull the edges of these elements and make them palatable. While certainly profane in parts, it rarely fails to get the laugh it aims for. There is an emotional core and commentary on the struggles of letting go of your youth and the fears of growing up but the film does not deal with that in depth. For the most part you are happily swept along on a wave of well paced humor. It’s also surprisingly balanced, invoking empathy for both sides, be it “family” or “frat,” a hard line to tread. Time will tell whether it achieves cult status like Animal House or Old School, but right now, it’s a fantastic effort to kickoff the slate of summer comedies.
