Neighbors **1/2 out of **** A twenty-something couple (Seth Rogan & Rose Byrne) struggle with their feelings about maturing and leaving their wild days behind when a party-hard frat house moves in next door in their suburban neighborhood. They want to be cool, they really do, but theyve got this baby, see... At first, everyone tries to just get along, but eventually things go very wrong and suddenly were in the middle of an escalating revenge war in this raunchy comedy from the director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. As recent raunch-coms go, this doesnt reach the heights of The Hangover or Bridesmaids, but its marginally better and more focused than last years hit Were the Millers. Rogan and Byrne have a genuine chemistry, even if they are another in the long line of fat guy/hot wife couples that permeate American pop culture. Their conflicted feelings about growing up and putting the college partying behind them feel real, and its also refreshing (in a way) that Byrne is written to be just as vulgar and profane as Rogan. Zac Efron probably wont be playing Hamlet anytime soon, but hes well-cast as head frat star Teddy and plays slyly off his public persona. Dave Franco plays his #2 and he and Efron have a couple of good scenes together that get further beneath the surface of their characters than you might expect. The supporting cast includes an improvised-feeling performance from Ike Barinholtz (clueless nurse Morgan on The Mindy Project). Lisa Kudrow is a hoot in a small role as a college dean who makes decisions based on how negative a potential headline might be. (Fraternity gives baby AIDS. Not a good headline.) Even at 96 minutes, this starts to feel like its taking too long to get where its going, but there are enough good laughs along the way to make it worthwhile. The best gag involves some stolen car airbags.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 18:54:48 +0000
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