Bad Neighbours 2 - directed by Nicholas Stoller
Screenplay: Andrew Jay Cohen, Brendan O'Brien, Nicholas Stoller, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Music Score by: Michael Andrews
Cinematography: Brandon Trost
Edited by: Zene Baker, Peck Prior & Michael A. Webber
Running Time: 92 minutes
Rated: R16 - Violence, sex scenes, drug use and profanity
Apparently 2014's "Bad Neighbours" made enough money to warrant a sequel.
(in fact $270,000,000 on an $18,000,000 budget)
I don't mean to be condescending or give a backhanded compliment - I actually quite liked the movie.
I am just genuinely surprised that it was so successful.
Not many people that I know saw it at the movies and no one ever really references it or quotes from it.
As movies go it seemed to happen and then disappear.
But successful it was and so we have a sequel.
This time suburban couple Kelly and Mac (Byrne and Rogen) have sold their home to move to another place suitable for the expanding brood.
The catch is that the property is in escrow for 30 days with the new buyers permitted to back out of the sale in that time if they discover something amiss about the property and/or neighbourhood.
And then a sorority moves in next door.
A bunch of hard partying girls enjoying their first taste of freedom.
With Chloe Grace Moretz as Beth their leader they live it up in a weed and booze fueled frenzy.
So once again - it is war between the neighbours.
This being a sequel Zac Efron's Teddy has to come back and this time he is on the side of his former opponents Mac and Kelly.
That is after he has spent some time supporting the girls and basically enabling the entire situation by advising them on how best to set up a party house.
Teddy is on his own when best friend Pete gets engaged and asks him to move out.
Pete was secretly gay this whole time too - I don't know why this was decided as it adds nothing to the movie..... no comedy or drama comes out of it.
Perhaps it is part of an overall attempt by the writes to make this movie about something.
There is an equality angle with Teddy realising that he and his fraternity mates treated women like objects with their endless 'Ho' themed bashes.
Also the sorority is not allowed to throw parties but can go to the fraternity parties - the very same ones that Teddy used to throw.
It's a pretty horrible rule if it is a real thing.
As worthy an angle as it is the movie doesn't do a lot with it.
It uses it when a resolution is required or a plot point need to be pushed but overall the girls are just acting as poorly as the guys with their parties which makes their horror late in the piece at what they have become very baffling.
I mean one of the very early parties is a 'Beth Loses Her Virginity' party....
Personally I would have preferred that the script ditched all attempts at social commentary rather than explore the themes as half-assed as it does.
But it takes a limp shot at a few anyway.
They're an uncomfortable fit given that they sit amidst a really off colour (but very funny) Jew joke, lots of profanity, constant vibrator references and an abundance of drug, alcohol and sex shenanigans.
Occasionally the script delivers up very well crafted scenes with at least one about the correct spelling of sorority absolutely sparkling with witty dialogue and smack on delivery.
On the whole though this is mildy amusing rather than funny.
It's an enjoyable romp and it is hard not to enjoy Byrne and Rogen's lovable couple.
Rose Byrne in particular is a delight with a range of terrific expressions in her pitch perfect turn.
Rogen is Rogen and that is no bad thing.
Efron fares less well with Teddy being offered up as a failed man who needs to grow up and then completely screwing up the arc that he is clearly being set up for.
Efron appears to be there mainly to take his shirt off although he does have a very funny dance scene.
I quite liked "Bad Neighbours 2" but most of its appeal is in the cast.
Moretz, Rogen, Byrne and a host of comedy talent including her Kick-Ass co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse make up for a lack of truly hilarious scenes.
Oddly much of the stuff shown in the trailers is either truncated or entirely missing in the final film.
The repeat of the airbag joke is entirely different than the one show in pre-release trailers.
They're odd decisions because in the case of the sexy carwash sequence the severely cut down version utilised in the final cut is considerably less effective than the trailer one.
Still "Bad Neighbours" is an easy watch and although I was pretty far from loving it I liked it just fine.
There are a few decent laughs and its a perfectly reasonable 92 minutes at the movies.
I can't see it spawning yet another sequel however.
The hastily put together and highly unlikely conclusion gives a follow on movie even less to go with than the first movie did.
And that shows with this movie proving to be really just a quick cash in on the big return on the low investment of the first film.
RATING: 68 / 100
CONCLUSION: Possibly better than we may have expected this movie still can't hide the fact that the material was pretty damned thin for one movie let alone two. Some laughs to be had but really this one can wait for a night in front of the tv when the blu-ray comes out.
Starring: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Chloe Grace Moretz, Zac Efron, Selena Gomez, Ike Barinholtz, Dave Franco, Lisa Kudrow, Carla Gallo, Kiersey Clemons, Hannibal Buress, LL Cool J, Ciara Bravo, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Screenplay: Andrew Jay Cohen, Brendan O'Brien, Nicholas Stoller, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Music Score by: Michael Andrews
Cinematography: Brandon Trost
Edited by: Zene Baker, Peck Prior & Michael A. Webber
Running Time: 92 minutes
Rated: R16 - Violence, sex scenes, drug use and profanity
(in fact $270,000,000 on an $18,000,000 budget)
I don't mean to be condescending or give a backhanded compliment - I actually quite liked the movie.
I am just genuinely surprised that it was so successful.
Not many people that I know saw it at the movies and no one ever really references it or quotes from it.
As movies go it seemed to happen and then disappear.
But successful it was and so we have a sequel.
This time suburban couple Kelly and Mac (Byrne and Rogen) have sold their home to move to another place suitable for the expanding brood.
The catch is that the property is in escrow for 30 days with the new buyers permitted to back out of the sale in that time if they discover something amiss about the property and/or neighbourhood.
And then a sorority moves in next door.
A bunch of hard partying girls enjoying their first taste of freedom.
With Chloe Grace Moretz as Beth their leader they live it up in a weed and booze fueled frenzy.
So once again - it is war between the neighbours.
This being a sequel Zac Efron's Teddy has to come back and this time he is on the side of his former opponents Mac and Kelly.
That is after he has spent some time supporting the girls and basically enabling the entire situation by advising them on how best to set up a party house.
Teddy is on his own when best friend Pete gets engaged and asks him to move out.
Pete was secretly gay this whole time too - I don't know why this was decided as it adds nothing to the movie..... no comedy or drama comes out of it.
Perhaps it is part of an overall attempt by the writes to make this movie about something.
There is an equality angle with Teddy realising that he and his fraternity mates treated women like objects with their endless 'Ho' themed bashes.
Also the sorority is not allowed to throw parties but can go to the fraternity parties - the very same ones that Teddy used to throw.
It's a pretty horrible rule if it is a real thing.
As worthy an angle as it is the movie doesn't do a lot with it.
It uses it when a resolution is required or a plot point need to be pushed but overall the girls are just acting as poorly as the guys with their parties which makes their horror late in the piece at what they have become very baffling.
I mean one of the very early parties is a 'Beth Loses Her Virginity' party....
 |
| Rogen and Byrne return as likeable suburbanites Mac and Kelly |
But it takes a limp shot at a few anyway.
They're an uncomfortable fit given that they sit amidst a really off colour (but very funny) Jew joke, lots of profanity, constant vibrator references and an abundance of drug, alcohol and sex shenanigans.
Occasionally the script delivers up very well crafted scenes with at least one about the correct spelling of sorority absolutely sparkling with witty dialogue and smack on delivery.
On the whole though this is mildy amusing rather than funny.
It's an enjoyable romp and it is hard not to enjoy Byrne and Rogen's lovable couple.
Rose Byrne in particular is a delight with a range of terrific expressions in her pitch perfect turn.
Rogen is Rogen and that is no bad thing.
Efron fares less well with Teddy being offered up as a failed man who needs to grow up and then completely screwing up the arc that he is clearly being set up for.
Efron appears to be there mainly to take his shirt off although he does have a very funny dance scene.
 |
| The out of control women lead by Chloe Grace-Moretz's Beth |
Moretz, Rogen, Byrne and a host of comedy talent including her Kick-Ass co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse make up for a lack of truly hilarious scenes.
Oddly much of the stuff shown in the trailers is either truncated or entirely missing in the final film.
The repeat of the airbag joke is entirely different than the one show in pre-release trailers.
They're odd decisions because in the case of the sexy carwash sequence the severely cut down version utilised in the final cut is considerably less effective than the trailer one.
Still "Bad Neighbours" is an easy watch and although I was pretty far from loving it I liked it just fine.
There are a few decent laughs and its a perfectly reasonable 92 minutes at the movies.
I can't see it spawning yet another sequel however.
The hastily put together and highly unlikely conclusion gives a follow on movie even less to go with than the first movie did.
And that shows with this movie proving to be really just a quick cash in on the big return on the low investment of the first film.
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