Neighbors – Movie Review

So I know I said I wasn’t going to be able to post a review this week, but screw that! I found a couple of hours to watch a film, eat, and post the review! So yes, we’re still going strong here on theVade. Now onto the review!

Neighbors is a 2014 comedy/drama film directed by Nicholas Stoller and stars Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, and Dave Franco. The plot follows a young couple with their newly born child trying to find peace when a fraternity moves in next door and begins causing problems.

So this is probably going to be a quick review as there isn’t much to talk about. This film is definitely a comedy and I’ll be honest.. It wasn’t insanely funny. It was, however, very heartfelt at time and really put you into the situation as if you were trying to deal with new crazy neighbors. There’s a moment in this film where Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne go to greet their new neighbors for the first time. This scene was so relatable and well done that you almost feel like this was the first encounter that these actors had with each other. Moments like these definitely made the film feel more like a drama and less like a comedy. I would usually go on to say how if a comedy fails to make you laugh it ultimate fails itself, but having watched this in my bedroom with no one else I feel I can’t accurately judge this film the way it should be judged. I probably would have had a completely different experience had I watched this in theaters or with a large group of people.

Before going on, Zac Efron was just fantastic. Never thought I would say that on record, but this kid can act. There’s a scene where both him and Dave Franco’s character introduce everyone into the house and the dialog that Efron had was so well written and acted I honestly couldn’t believe it. Zac Efron is an amazing actor (as well as Franco) and I can’t wait to see him on the big screen again. On the other end of the spectrum, Seth Rogen.. well he just plays Seth Rogen. Is that a bad thing? Well.. I don’t know. So far it has worked out great for him, and I’ve enjoyed him in almost everything I’ve seen him in. Yet with that in mind, It also might be the death of him one day, but for now I don’t mind it. As for Rose Byrne I felt her performance was a bit strange. It seemed like such an odd roll for her to play and I couldn’t get past that for the entire film. She’s a great actress, don’t get me wrong, I just feel like this wasn’t her strongest/greatest performance.

As for the rest of this film, I just thought it was okay. There was nothing that made me crack up laughing, and at no time did I feel the need to pull out my phone to check Twitter. The film was never bad at any point (in my opinion) but it also didn’t have me on the floor in tears laughing. So in the end I decided to give Neighbors an “Alright” on theVade Review Bar. It wasn’t bad, and it wasn’t outstanding, it was just alright. I did look at the trailer for the sequel before starting my review and I feel that it could add a lot to this series of films. I’ll definitely consider reviewing that in the future as I will add it to our watchlist today. So that’s it.. just a short review for a movie that was just a tad short at being a good comedy.