Starring: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco.
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 97 mins. Reviewed in May 2014
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There is no doubt that this film will not appeal to everyone – it is consistently vulgar and likely to offend a number of viewers. However, the target audience of this raunchy comedy will find it reliably laugh-out-loud funny, surprisingly emotive and well-acted.
When new parents Mac and Kelly (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) realise the empty house next door has been sold to a fraternity, they are understandably worried about the potential for loud partying and other shenanigans affecting their family unit. They make friends with the frat, led by Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco), joining in on one of their parties. But when the partying continues and Mac is driven to calling the police, their relationship turns sour, and it quickly becomes an escalating war between the neighbours to try and drive the other out.
Director Nicholas Stoller has cut his teeth on similar films ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and ‘The Five Year Engagement’, but this is a more rounded effort and showcases his growth. His style is more pronounced in a number of flashback and party sequences, and though the adjective ‘obnoxious’ would go some way to summing up the overall tone of the film, it’s delivered with an infectious energy. The party scenes are propelled by sound and movement, and the orchestration of the chaos onscreen is impressive. The emotional heft which underlies the juvenile humour is more consistent and relatable here than his earlier films, riffing off the tension between growing up and staying young (and fun), and the difficulties which the reality of parenthood bring to a relationship.
At heart, ‘Bad Neighbours’ is about two families struggling to cope with impending responsibility and the real world. The brothers of Delta Psi Beta place each other above all else, and though the questionable hue of alcohol abuse and extreme hazing rituals hangs over there home, they are a tight unit. The current fraternity’s desire to join the ‘prestigious lineage of extraordinary gentlemen’ throughout their history drives their actions. The idea of responsibility to the past corrupts their growth, but the meditations on legacy and self-identity are ultimately mature. Mac and Kelly next door with the infant Stella are struggling with reconciling the carelessness of their youth and their new responsibility. Their interactions with the fraternity are tinged with nostalgia and the hope that they can keep living the youth though the proxy of their responsibility-free neighbours.
The cast is brilliant. The discovery of Australian Rose Byrne’s wonderful comedic timing is an eye-opening one, and she dominates the largely male cast in the majority of her screen time, unafraid to trade profanities with gusto. As Mac, Seth Rogen plays his usual schlub persona, but his goofy presence and talent as a comic performer are rarely better utilised than here when contrasted with his youthful co-stars. Zac Efron – formerly Disney’s brightest star following the ‘High School Musical’ trilogy – shows his abilities in comedy, and holds his own against the veteran Rogen. Dave Franco, who has been playing in comedy for a while now, is similarly excellent, and the scene which he and Efron share involving the pair develop rhyming pledges to honour mateship above romance is hilarious.
This is not a film which will appeal to certain demographics. Importantly though, it never pretends to be. ‘Bad Neighbours’ is bawdy, unrefined fun, which is game to offend filmgoers. The neighbours may be bad, but the cast, humour and unexpected heart of this film are great.
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