Advance Movie Review: Neighbors

Has it really been two weeks since my last blog post? Damn, I sure have been slacking. Other than a few weak TV shows that it turned out I didn't care enough about, not a whole lot has motivated me to write lately. I'm going to try to change that with a few more posts this week since I won't have a whole lot of time once I start my new full-time job on Monday. So it's a good thing for me that tonight gave me a good reason to post something!

I caught an advanced screening of Neighbors on 42nd Street tonight. The line was very long and my guest and I ended up sitting two rows from the front and the movie was so good we didn't mind at all.

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play a married couple, Mac and Kelly, who are raising their baby when a frat moves into the house next to them. They immediately worry that the frat will be all raucous and loud at all hours of the night, partying and whatnot, basically doing what frats all across the country do. They decide to welcome the frat to the neighborhood by giving them pot to ingratiate themselves, and then ask that the frat just stays mindful of it's neighbors. Initially they are embraced by the frat and its leaders Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco) and even join in the first party the frat throws, where everyone gets along and hilarity ensues. Of course, if that stayed the status quo we'd have one dull movie on our hands, so another party and a noise complaint later and everything goes to pot... in some cases, quite literally.

What follows is a Hatfields and McCoys style feud between the frat and the family and their friends, and it is absolutely hysterical. They constantly one up each other on horrible ways to bring the other down in what amounts to a hilarious, cameo-fueled war. Seriously. This movie has appearances from the Workoholics, Lonely Island, Phoebe Buffet, McLovin, and Dunder Mifflin.

The stars are great. Seth Rogen does what he does best; you know what to expect and if you like him, you like him, and you'll laugh your ass off. Zac Efron plays off him very well in the third role in a row of his I've enjoyed (Liberal Arts and That Awkward Moment being the preceding two), and also has great chemistry with Dave Franco. The only part of the cast that didn't stand out for me was Rose Byrne, and even that wasn't because she was bad, she just felt sort of interchangeable, like her role could have been played by anyone else and it wouldn't have changed anything.

To wrap it up, if you're looking for a raunchy R-rated comedy in the vein of all the other "Apatow Bunch" movies, check this one out. It just might be the funniest movie I've seen all year.