Neighbors

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Nicholas Stoller

May 9, 2014

When Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) have a baby daughter, they decide to move to the suburbs. Up until the Delta Psi Beta fraternity moved in next door, the couple’s relationship was happy. To avoid coming out as uncool, Mac and Kelly make an effort to get along with Teddy (Zac Efron), the frat president. But at a particularly rowdy frat party, the couple finally calls the police, and a full-scale war breaks out.

Rose Byrne could very well be the movie’s real revelation. Byrne isn’t well-known, but she surely ought to be after her show-stealing performance in this movie. She is flawlessly paired with Rogen, but she almost single-handedly dominates every scene she appears in with a hilariously daring performance that ought to have every comedy director pounding on her door. She isn’t the only one however, there seems to be no weakness in the supporting cast. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Roberts, and Ike Barinholtz also play their roles with confidence. 

Efron is energized, inspired, and just downright amusing in this movie, so if you’ve been on the fence about him—a young star who demonstrated more acting promise than anyone from the whole High School Musical thing—this might be the one to change your mind. The same is true for Dave Franco, minus the high school musical part.

“Neighbors” is more of an idea played out in a succession of outrageous jokes than it is a tale, but strong performances (one of the movie’s biggest joys is seeing Rose Byrne out-curse and out-do Rogen with razor-sharp comic timing) and some surprising heart elevate it above the usual frat boy fodder.

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