Movie Review: Neighbors

Seth Rogen has made a career off of being the "party guy". In Neighbors, Rogen is on the other side as he plays Mac Radner, a young father trying to deal with the nightmare of having a hard-partying fraternity move in next door to him and his family.

Neighbors is pretty par for the course for what you would except from a Rogen film: It's vulgar, over-the-top and god damn hilarious. Neighbors' central conflict of "fraternity vs. family" is the perfect background for Rogen's brand of improv-heavy comedy. Everyone involved with the film knows crazy shit happens in fraternities happen all the time, which allows them to just run wild with the gags. The film takes a little bit to fully find its footing, but once the Radners and Delta PSI start really clashing, the laughs keep coming and it's a total joy to watch.

Neighbors makes a lot of bold casting choices that work well. Aside from Rogen, none of the other lead actors primarily do comedies. Rose Byrne plays Rogen's wife Kelly and is responsible for some of the biggest laughs of the entire movie. Byrne's appeared in a couple of comedies the past few years (Bridesmaids and The Internship) as the straight character, but not since Get Him to the Greek has she been given a chance to really shine in a comedic role. Her unhinged, whacky performance here reenforces that she's a natural at comedy and really needs to be given more comedic roles in the future.

The most bizarre casting choice on-paper is without question Zac Efron- who has made a career of playing the heartthrob in films aimed at adolescent girls- as Delta PSI leader Teddy. Much like Channing Tatum in 21 Jump Street, Efron proves doubters (myself included) wrong by showing some legitimate comedy chops here. Efron manages to easily hold his own with comedy veterans like Rogen, Ike Barinholtz, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse- which is no small accomplishment. Efron's work in Neighbors should be enough to finally earn him some respect outside of the teenage girl demographic that has embraced him for his entire career. 

Where Neighbors surprises is with just how much of a soul it actually has. Amidst all the alcohol, drugs and destruction, this film is really about the struggle of growing up. The Radners are having a hard time letting go of their youth after having a child, while Teddy has no idea what his future holds and just wants to stay in college forever. It's a relateable and relevant struggle for a lot of people in their 20's and 30's. While this film may portray the issue in a bit of an exaggerated fashion at times, it doesn't take away from the poignancy of its message of growing older and living up to your responsibilities, no matter how difficult they may be. Neighbors is a great start to what will hopefully be a summer full of spectacular comedies.

4/5 Stars