Title: Neighbors
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow, Craig Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, Elise & Zoey Vargas.
Lately comedies are revealing a new phenomena: bromance. Men indeed have always shared that level of camaraderie, which embraces undaunted loyalty, along with the tendency to be entertained by coarse humour. Seth Rogen had displayed this with the movie ‘This Is The End’ along with his brotherly pal James Franco.
In this occasion, ‘Neighbors’ stars the younger Franco – Dave – who doesn’t steal his older brother’s buddy away, since his bromance is with Zac Efron. Seth Rogen, this time, plays the older guy, married, with a child, who wants to “keep it down” – the redundant phrase in one of the funniest scenes of the film – who faces unexpected difficulties living next to a fraternity house.
Nicholas Stoller, as in his previous films (‘Get Him To The Greek,’ ‘The Five-Year Engagement,’ ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’), proves to have a magic touch in pacing narration along with humour; although in ‘Neighbors’ the comedic expedients too often draw heavily on the use of boorish genitalia drollery. Nevertheless the chemistry between the frat-faction is outstanding, as portrayed in the Robert De Niro theme party, that undoubtably marks the summit of amusement. Zac Efron, Dave Franco along with the emerging talents, Jerrod Carmichael and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, appear as the daffy version of the Musketeers: they are All for One and One For All in partying outrageously and making their new neighbours’ life impossible. Whereas Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, depict a multifaceted couple: they try to act cool and avoid the stereotype of humdrum parents, but their baby (praise to the performance of the twins Elise & Zoey Vargas) inevitably will require them to conduct a steadier life.
‘Neighbors’ is definitely the cathartic flick of the season, since it reveals, through farce, an ancient rivalry that has affected all those with troublesome nearby residents.
Technical: B
Acting: B
Story: B-
Overall: B
Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
