So I watched Bad Neighbours…
I’d been anticipating this movie for a couple of months and it did not disappoint, in fact, it pleasantly surprised me in some aspects.
Okay basic plot: Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play Mac and Kelly Radner, a recently married couple who are in the first years of parenthood, they live in a sleepy suburbian neighbourhood and are bored out of their minds. Enter Delta Psi (a frat house who were kicked out of their last residence for throwing too many wild parties) and who happen to be the Radners’ new next door neighbours. Obviously these two worlds can’t co-exist and this leads to a prank war between the two houses.
I was expecting just another prank movie about two neighbours at war and even though I got this, there was a lot more. Some of the best scenes were between Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne just complaining/commenting about married life and sharing awkward marital sex. The movie felt like a mixture of the crazy party vibes of Project X and the intra-marital satire of This is 40.
Rose Byrne is one of my favourite comedic actresses in Hollywood right now and she’s all but perfected the art of dry wit and stinging sarcasm. She’s the best thing about this movie and she delivers great one liners that might be missed amongst the numerous gags in the movie. Seth Rogen is typecast as himself once again in this movie. I really like Rogen but in every movie he’s the chubby, silly idiot. If you need a wacky, zany character you go to Johhny Depp. If you need a cocky, handsome man manchild you go to Robert Downey Jr or, if he’s not available, Ryan Reynolds. And if you need a loveable idiot with awkward humour and sharp comebacks, Rogen is your man. It’s not bad to watch but it’s not really impressive to see anymore.
Zac Effron, Dave Franco and their Delta Psi fraternity of brothers also deliver on the comedic chops and I feel like even though Effron really owns his role, Franco is the standout performer of the two.
The one thing I didn’t like was the ending. The writers were bold enough to not have a cliche ending but not creative enough to have an original ending. The movie just ends, much like every one of Seth Rogen’s sex scenes *spoiler*.
All in all, a good movie but not worth a trip to the cinema. Wait for it to come to dvd (if you’re a 120 years old) or till a friend downloads it. 7/10
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