Matt Vs. Neighbors

In Seth Rogen's newest film Neighbors he stars as a new dad who's life is turned upside down when a college fraternity moves in next door. He and his wife played by Rose Byrne have to deal with the frat's antics as well as the their newly-found responsibilities both as parents and a married couple. Zac Efron plays the frat leader who initially appears mild-mannered and friendly but eventually devolves into a hard partying frat boy. Efron makes and agreement with Rogen to keep the noise down and partying to a minimum In exchange for Rogen not calling the cops when they have a'few' friends over. When that inevitably fails Rogen calls the cops on their parties setting up a series of increasingly disastrous pranks. When I think of funny movies, I usually don't think of Seth Rogen. While I liked last year's doomsday comedy This is the End, I believe that James Franco provided most of the humor and that Rogen was merely there.  Fortunately you can tell that the cast is trying and having fun in Neighbors.

The plot was fairly basic but it does show flashes some depth when showing in scenes showing that the frat does care for its members and their post-graduation uncertainty. This provided a layer of characterization that I wasn't expecting going in It ha seen several weeks since I saw the film and few parts stick in my mind.


 The movie draws comparisons between the adult struggling to be responsible and the college students struggling to be adults. Fear of growing up and facing the future is an underlying theme in the film. However most of the pranks that main characters force on each other are simply played for laughs. Rogen and his wife suffer few if any consequences for their somewhat illegal actions and Rogen and Efron drop their petty rivalry by the end of the film.  It was  hard to find ,amy characters though given the nature of movie, this isn't surprising. Neighbors while providing some laughs, is a rather forgettable piece of fluff that will be lost in the summer blockbuster shuffle.