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Bad Neighbours isn’t bad exactly, it’s just ok. The film stars Seth Rogen as one half of a cute young couple who are new parents alongside Zac Efron who plays the president of a fraternity.
A fraternity, for those of us who don’t live in the USA, is a sort of student society which apparently gives rise to lots of sex, drugs, and partying.
And where the newly initiated are bullied and forced to do humiliating things for the amusement of the senior members.
Seth Rogen and his wife (played by the beautiful Rose Byrne) are horrified when they move into their new home and discover they’re living next door to Efron’s fraternity.
The scenes that follow could be easily predicted: raunchy scenes involving genitals, mass intoxication, arses and tits flying everywhere and breast milk hitting people in the face.
You’re basically watching Porky’s, with better looking people but they are forgettable characters.
The film’s acting is bog standard. If you want to know how Seth Rogen performs in this film, you could just watch any of his other movies.
Not that there’s anything wrong with playing the same character every time. Woody Allen built a long career out of it and surely Seth can too.
Zac Efron on the other hand surprisingly pulls out a not-too-shabby performance in a couple of his scenes. Not just a pretty face after all.
Another issue with the film is the best scenes are all in the trailer. There is nothing more frustrating than paying to see a film only to realise you’ve already seen the best it has to offer at home in bed, watching the trailer stuffing cheese and onion crisps into your face.
Bad Neighbour’s sets and locations aren’t the most adventurous. Our story is confided to Seth’s house, the Frat house, occasionally Seth’s workplace and sometimes the Principle’s office where a scathing Phoebe from Friends wags her finger at Efron and his crew, telling them to make sure their attics don’t make the newspaper headlines.
Thematically, the comedy tries to tackle growing up and having to settle down.
For Rogen and his wife the issue is not being able to go out and party like they used as they’re parents now and that’s obviously really difficult for them… For Efron the issue is having to stop partying like a maniac and find a suitable job, which is vaunted as a particular problem, hard that eh?
In summary the film would probably be best watched on a lazy night in on Netflix rather than in cinemas. The short and tall of it being the film is steeped in mediocrity with a couple of scenes that stand out.