Movie Review: Neighbors

Neighbors movie review

The trailer for Neighbors promised a raunchy party, which is exactly what you get - and it's a party you will not want to miss. This movie is definitely not for those who are easily offended, or who don't like movies like The Hangover and similar films, but overall it was hilarious.

Married couple Kelly (Rose Byrne) and Mac (Seth Rogen) have sunk all of their money into a new house in which they hope to raise their young child. They're not too happy, then, when a college fraternity moves in next door, even though its president, Teddy (Zac Efron), says that they will "keep [the noise level] down." Soon, Kelly, Mac, and their daughter are being kept awake all night by the frat's raucous parties, and a war develops between Mac, Teddy, and the rest of the frat house - with a lot of deviousness and tricks thrown in to the mix.

It was funny to see Rogen as the "parent" in this film, because he's usually playing a wild party-goer like Efron's character. You can immediately tell that although Rose Byrne and Rogen are the "responsible" 30-something parents in the movie, though, they're really just grown-up kids - which makes the movie that much funnier. Some especially notable scenes are where they get to party with the frat brothers, and another where they plot to drive a rift between Teddy (Efron) and his vice president of the frat, Pete (Dave Franco).

Yes, see this movie. It's the most enjoyable raunchy film and comedy I've seen in a very long time, and although some parts of it were unbelievable (like the fact that a frat house would even open in a quiet suburban neighborhood, for one), it was so funny that I was able to overlook. Lisa Kudrow has a small part as the college dean, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as one of the frat bros, and there's a few quick flashbacks where you can recognize other stars like Jake Johnson and Andy Samberg. The camera point-of-views were interesting in this film too - there were a few that almost made it look like someone was filming with a camera phone or something (very close up) which worked with the movie overall. If you like wild and crazy films like Animal House or The Hangover series, you are bound to like Neighbors, and that is the core audience for to whom I'd recommend this movie.

Neighbors is in theaters today, May 9th, and is rated R with a runtime of 96 minutes. 4.5 stars out of 5.

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