'Neighbors' is just another gross-out comedy
Has there ever been a movie featuring fraternities that wasn’t a gross-out? “Animal House,” still probably the best of breed, was the template. The slipshod “Neighbors,” directed by Nicholas Stoller, doesn’t measure up. It’s gross, all right, but rarely funny – unless jokes about alcohol-laced breast milk is your thing.
Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play a married couple with a baby whose lives are disrupted when a raucous fraternity – is there any other kind? – moves in next door. Polite entreaties to “keep it down” soon turn into all-out warfare between the couple and the frat prez played by Zac Efron. It’s also a battle of the physiques: Rogen’s flabbiness versus Efron’s six pack. The film sides with Rogen. That’s populism for you. Grade: C (Rated R for pervasive language, strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, and drug use throughout. )
