Delta Psi must die.
The H-Bomb: Mac and Kelly Radner (Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne) are a content, thirty-something couple living the ideal suburban life in their ideal suburban home with their baby daughter, Stella. Their ideally ideal existence is turned upside down when the house next door sells, and the notoriously wild Delta Psi fraternity moves in. Dreading the nights of loud partying that are sure to follow, the new parents opt to take the preemptive approach by going to their new neighbors with big smiles and some weed, and asking them, in the nicest way possible, to keep the noise down whenever they throw one of their massive shindigs.
The fraternity president, Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), seems perfectly willing to accommodate them, and after inviting them in to party with the brothers, which the Radners do a little too well, Teddy assures them that if the frat boys ever get too loud, to just call him, and he’ll take care of it. But, he does have one condition, no matter what happens, Mac and Kelly must promise to never call the cops. Taking Teddy at his word, Mac and Kelly leave satisfied, believing that they’ve nipped this problem in the bud… they are sadly mistaken.
The very next night, the frat is throwing an insane bash, one that is keeping Mac and Kelly, and baby Stella, awake. After trying to call Teddy several times, they finally break down and call the police. Teddy finds out that it was his next-door neighbors who called, and from there… war is declared. The fraternity does everything in their power to make the Radner’s life a living hell, from partying all hours of the day, to tossing trash into their front lawn, to even looking in on these “old people” while they do the nasty.
Now, Mac and Kelly have a decision to make. They could act like the grown adults that they are and take the high road, or they can stoop to Delta Psi’s level and fight back. Since there really wouldn’t be much of a movie if they did the former, the Radners go for the latter and devise some pretty elaborate and underhanded schemes in order to either make the frat boys move, or get them in enough trouble with the college that the fraternity will be dissolved. The back and forth escalates as property is damaged, backs are stabbed, loyalties are tested, and a mutual hatred between a family and a fraternity is forged. All of it culminates in the most epic cockfight ever put on film… and I’m not talking about no bloody chickens.
I have to admit that these raunch-coms from the last few years tend to be hit-or-miss with me. Observe and Report, a flop, I thought was hysterical, while the highly lauded Superbad, I thought was kind of meh. Hot Tub Time Machine, another flop, kept me howling throughout, whereas the mucho popular The Hangover barely made me smile. So, when it comes to this kind of flick, all I can attest to, is to what makes me laugh, and Neighbors made me fucking laugh.
Simply put, I found it absolutely hilarious. I can’t even remember the last time a movie had me this violently in stitches… well, there was Adore, but this time, I was supposed to be laughing. Having no relation to that John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd disaster of the same name, this Neighbors pretty much hits the ground running with an audacious opening that firmly establishes what truly horrible parents Mac and Kelly really are.
From there, the movie keeps upping the ante with its “Holy shit, I can’t believe they just went there” humor. For spoilers’ sake, I can’t get too specific with anything (I will also warn you to avoid the trailers like the fucking herpes), I’ll just say that what the fraternity is willing to do to their unmentionables in order to raise money for house repairs will make every man in the audience laugh and cringe in equal doses. Then there’s what’s easily the film’s funniest scene, which involves a bit of physical comedy that proves, once again, whenever slapstick goes up against raunch, slapstick will win every time.
Now, a movie about feuding neighbors constantly going back and forth, at each other’s throats, could become mean spirited, and in turn, make the film not so fun to watch. Neighbors doesn’t have that problem. Even though the characters here are at war with each other, and practically everyone in the movie is an asshole to one extent or another, they come off as likable for the most part, thanks to some solid writing and appealing performances. Yeah, Seth Rogen is basically playing Seth Rogen, the lovable stoner man-child. He’s definitely not stretching here in any sense, but hey, he’s funny as fuck… and that’s what counts.
Matching him is Byrne, as his impossibly hot wife. Typically known for more dramatic fair, here she shows that she’s just as capable of getting down and dirty, and behaving just as irresponsibly, as Rogen. A comedy where the girl actually gets to be funny… fuckin’ A! We need more of that (and no, Melissa McCarthy doesn’t count)! I was also impressed by Efron, who is indeed hilarious as the douche bag frat prez whose main goal in life is to throw the biggest party in the school’s history. I was never a fan of his before, but now, I’ll admit, I’m kind of warming up to him… kind of.
Shining in supporting roles are Dave Franco, as the fraternity’s vice president, Ike Barinholtz as Mac and Kelly’s divorced best friend who helps out in trying to bring down the frat, and McLovin’ himself, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, as the dweeby frat boy with the notoriously big member. Frankly, everyone who shows up in the movie gets a laugh, everyone except Lisa Kudrow, who makes an unwarranted cameo as the college dean. The audience at my screening groaned collectively when she appeared.
The film’s other flaw, and this one is a little more severe, is that director Nicholas Stoller allows certain scenes to go on for too long, to the point where the goddamn joke is run into the ground and just isn’t funny anymore. The one that jumps to mind is the “Bros before Hoes” scene between Efron and Franco, that’s at least twice as long as it should be. Sometimes less is more, guys, sometimes less is more. Especially if you’re going to feature Seth Rogen flapping his man tits outside of an Abercrombie & Fitch.
That one major beef out of the way, there’s not much to say except that Neighbors is one righteously funny flick. I laughed, I cried (from laughing), and I laughed some more. That’s about all I can can ask from a movie like this. If you’re a Seth Rogen fan, or a fan of dirty, R-rated humor in general, then you don’t need me to tell you this, but I will anyway, fucking see it. If you’re not a fan of the Rogen, well, then, why in the hell are you still reading?
