Film Review: Neighbors Seth Rogen is the king of outrageous humor. He has garnered the reputation as riotously funny and yet extremely off-the-wall inappropriate. His last film This is the End was received extremely well by critics and movie-goers alike. However, his latest film Neighbors, though advertised as “from the guys that brought you This is the End,” Rogen actually did not direct the film. When hearing about this, I was rather disappointed. Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets) was chosen to direct this film instead and, though he may not be Rogen, Stoller does bring the laughs in his latest comedy. This movie is funny. Let’s clear that up right now. With the well developed characters, bad language from Rose Byrne, and the intriguing plot, this movie does succeed as a comedy. However, Neighbors does suffer from the fate of many other comedies in that it felt to me like the majority of the jokes were in the trailer. Unfortunately, after leaving the theater, I felt as though I didn’t see much more then I did in the trailers. I went into this movie hoping for a movie with a simple, yet riotously funny, plot of a prank war. However, I found to my disappointment that most of the pranks which I thought were merely being teased in the trailers were actually being shown in the trailers. Most of the practical jokes are played in a montage during the film with only a few others actually being fleshed out in a full scene. Even more disappointing, the pranks which the filmmakers chose to give screen time to were not nearly as entertaining as some of the shorter, more clever, pranks shown in a 5-minute clip. Like I said, this movie is funny. It still delivers the laughs and outrageous gags which make it a worthwhile experience. The cast is the other part of this film which makes this movie worth watching. Seth Rogen is funny as always but does not seem to do much different from his previous roles. The two stars of this film are Zac Efron and Rose Byrne. Efron proves that he is not a one-dimensional actor and delivers his comedic lines with ease. His character, Teddy, is funny, cocky, and in denial of the fact that he will not be in college forever, and Efron plays the part perfectly in his best performance to date. Bryne is the other scene stealer in this film playing the Australian wife of Seth Rogen’s Mac. She proves that she can hold her own when on a comedy set with a legend like Rogen and her performance is downright funny. Dave Franco also gives a good performance and works flawlessly with Efron. The cast is great across the board and definitely improves the film. Overall, Neighbors will bring the laughs (if you like this kind of humor), even if it does seem to waste its potential. It’s funny, but not hilarious. 7/10.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 00:39:40 +0000
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