Neighbors

Some people flock to raunchy R-rated comedies in theatres, while I am the type of person who would rather just stand on the side of the road and wait for them to pass.  I don’t think I am a prude (I joke a lot about farts and bums) and am tolerable to a lot of the edgy elements that cinema can hold.  The way I see it, if it tells a story and stays true to what it is then I will let it be.  That does not really mean I will personally enjoy it.

There are a few in this genre that end up winning my heart over.  I absolutely loved the cleverly written and directed 21 Jump Street, and was very surprised when I had a great time watching The Hangover and The Hangover 3 (I hope you notice that I did not reference the second Hangover movie).  So, for the sake of being open minded (and because of the fact that I needed to see it for review on an upcoming podcast) I went to the theatre to take in the latest R-rated comedy, Neighbors.

The film is about a young married couple with a baby who put all of their money into buying a house.  Seth Rogan plays Mac, and his wife Kelly is played by Rose Byrne.  When I think of Seth Rogan, I think of a lot of raunchy comedies that I never really laughed at (excluding This is the End), and when I think of Rose Byrne I cannot get the image of her continually gaping blank stare that she had in Insidious.  Life for this happy couple, who still want to be youthful and hold onto their days of partying, takes a turn when a fraternity purchases the house next door.  They then find themselves worried about the noise, but they also don’t want to come off as uncool old people to the young college partiers.  There.  That is the basis of the plot.

I suppose, if I am talking about the plot, I should mention that the president of the fraternity, played by Zac Efron, ends up getting more than a little peeved at the attempts of his neighbours to keep the noise to a minimum, and a back and forth battle begins between the two households, each escalating events further and further.

There were indeed a number of times where I was laughing.  The movie started out with the comedy being dialogue based, and the comedic timing and delivery of Rogan was put on display quickly.  Rose Byrne, whom I had never pictured as being in a comedy, was the darling of the movie for me.  She had a great energy and was able to keep up pace with the well-seasoned and developed skills of Rogan.  She really opened my eyes to her potential, and I am so desperately hoping to see her name attached to comedies in the future.

Zac Efron also opened my eyes to his abilities and the possible future that may be in front of him.  I am sure that many a girl who had crushes on the young heart throb wanted to see the movie because of promotional material promising scenes of his cut body being on display (in a similar way that The Other Woman made sure to promote Kate Upton in a bikini).  Me, I do not have a crush on the young man, but I have now put him on my radar of actors to follow now.  His physically enhanced body will open some doors for him, and hopefully he does not end up taking regrettable roles which spiral him around in the void of mid-2000s Matthew McConaughey type films.  There were moments of charm, nuance, and charisma that show he may be able to be groomed into modern era McConaughey roles.  Alright, alright, alright, back to talking about the film.

However, of course there had to be a ‘however,’ the established comedic tone of verbal and situational jokes abruptly switched throughout the film, relying at times on very slap-stick and over the top, unrealistic moments.  Both slap-stick and unrealistic comedy is fine, but it works if it serves the unified feel of a film, and in Neighbors it did not.  Sometimes laughing, sometimes face palming, I sensed that this film was an intoxicated driver that could not stay within the lines and would get disastrously close to ending up in the ditch.

I believe that a large portion of the problem comes from the script, which felt disheveled and erratic.  The writers, Brendan O’Brien and Andrew J Cohen, were both first timers to writing a feature film, and I am not willing to write them off as poor script writers, but rather just having an unfortunate start.  They did try and create back story and motivation for the characters, as well as humanize both sides of this conflict, and they get points for that.  Sadly, because of the ever shifting landscape of the style of comedy and feel, you quickly forget any understanding of the principals involved.  I bet there are a lot of people who may not see the issues the same as myself, but after the first twenty minutes of the film I was lost in a world of shifting realities and jarring tonal transitions.

There were a number of laughs, which meant it was not a complete waste of time.  With that being said, I cannot downplay the fact that I was incredibly bored for the final half hour, laughing only from time to time, and generally not caring about any outcome other than merely a quick one.  If you are a bigger fan of the R-rated comedy than I am, you may enjoy a lot of the humour that I did not and you may think that I am just too ‘conservative’ to enjoy the film.  That would not be a true assumption.  If a movie, of any genre, is done in a coherent way that that shows talent towards its purpose, I will appreciate it fully.  This film just simply was not that.

Rating – 2.5 out of 4 stars