Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Following the success of Bad Neighbours, which grossed $270 million worldwide on just an $18 million budget, a sequel was something of an inevitability. When a film performs so well at the box office and is also as entertaining as Bad Neighbours managed to be the only question would be could the cast and crew create a sequel of superior or equal quality?

We re-join Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne), pregnant with their second child, a couple of years after the events of the first film. They have just agreed a deal to sell their house, under the obligation that the new buyers have a 30 day period to back out of the purchase should anything go array. At the same time Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) and a group of her friends move into the house next door to form a hard-partying sorority, Kappa Nu. Things are complicated further when Teddy (Zac Efron), leader of the fraternity from the first film, returns to assist Shelby in forming a successful sorority as retribution for his past grievances with Mac and Kelly.

Whilst it is pleasant to see a film attempt to challenge the male- centric domination of certain establishments across the educational system, it is repeatedly brought up that fraternities are allowed to host parties whilst sororities cannot, the attempts to highlight sexism and prejudices within the collegial system are undermined by the limited scope of the movie. Bad Neighbours 2 can't help but feel like a re-tread of the first film, only this time attempting to highlight certain unfair and unwarranted treatment that women can still face. This isn't a negative but there isn't enough new material to keep the action fresh. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are a pair of the most charming actors working today and I wish Byrne had been given more content with which to showcase her talents. As much as I enjoy Rogen's energetic displays one of my favourite aspects of the first film was Byrne's performance and I felt that with so many different characters now in the sequel she was given the short end of the stick whilst others got a more prominent focus. Zac Efron had something of a breakout role with the first film, establishing himself as a talented comedic actor, this time round having seen what he can do his performance is a little bit underwhelming though it may be that the material he is working with is somewhat limited. Whist the previous film felt very fluid this sequel feels like a series of sequences that were written first, with a connecting line constructed as an afterthought. The two writers from the previous feature (Andrew J. Cohen & Brendan O'Brien) are again credited, but with three other writers also receiving credit (Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg & director Nicholas Stoller) which may explain the sense of in-coordination the movie has at times. The newcomers of the sorority are somewhat of a mixed bag humour wise. Moretz doesn't really get much comedic material with her actions carrying the drama of the film, her constant battle to maintain a sorority without having to resort to conforming to male expectancy of what a sorority should be is admirable, but It would have been nice for her to have a few more comic moments that maybe defined her character a little more beyond her battle for individualism.

After all is said Bad Neighbours 2 has a few funny gags, and some charming characters, but is not as entertaining or prolific as its predecessor. As a passable 90 minute romp you could do worse, or if you haven't seen the first Bad Neighbours just watch that instead as it's a lot funnier.

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I'm serious, literally no one in the theater laughed. There were a very few chuckles but not a single laugh. The movie was like torture because they kept using the same joke over and over and over again. A joke that wasn't funny the first time it was used was delivered multiple times. The first Neighbors movie was funny, not the funniest movie made or anything like that but pretty funny. This movie is beyond lame. Remember when I told you they kept using the same jokes over and over again? There was literally a 10 minute timeframe in which the movie used the same joke about 5 times. Around that time I looked at my watch and saw that I was only 20 MINUTES INTO THE STUPID MOVIE! Basically, the problem with this movie is that it isn't funny and kept reusing the same jokes. They even use jokes from the original movie multiple times. It was just plain sad. Another thing, I think SETH ROGEN HAS BECOME THE NEW ADAM SANDLER. He keeps playing the same character in very single movie, and he has finally and completely wore out his welcome. This will be the final time I pay money to see a Seth Rogen movie. Another thing I learned is that Chloë Grace Moretz is officially an awful actress. Everyone loved her as Hit-Girl and ever since KickAss she has gotten a free pass from everyone (including myself) but in this movie we get to see a ton of her acting and it is like watching rejected scenes from a TWILIGHT MOVIE. You get sick of her after about 40 minutes. Man, I know everyone involved in this movie did it for a paycheck but I think it is ultimately going to hurt more than a few careers. I WARN YOU, SAVE YOUR MONEY AND DO NOT PAY A PENNY TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. IT SUCKS. You've been warned.

Is it moronic? Yes Is it a bad film? Er, no.....well maybe. Quirky, funny, laugh out loud in parts. We all know Seth, ha, Zac Efron: great comedy actor, and Frasier Crane's cameo, class. Come on guys, lighten up.

In the 2014 "Neighbors" my comment was, "It is sad to see Seth Rogen prostituting himself for money. I saw him in the 2011 "Take This Waltz" in a non-comedic role and he was excellent. But most of his roles are like the one here, sophomoric and dirty humor that is only humorous to the crowd that likes dirty humor."

I can say the same thing about this sequel, "Neighbors 2". Frankly the only reason I watched it, on BluRay from my public library, was to see Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays the role of an incoming freshman who decides to establish her own sorority after she learns that existing sororities are not allowed to have parties, and frat parties are not very good. To me her participation is wasted.

There are a couple of funny parts, starting in the first scene when Rogan's pregnant wife vomits all over his face during sex. Vomiting all over Rogan's face is a good use of that type of humor. Then there was the time he put on the brakes and the girl hiding in the back seat went through his windshield and into the street. Then there was the scene where Rogen and Efron were jumping on car airbags to try to get out of a garage they were locked in.

But the vast majority of the movie is just a very lame story and unfunny scenes filled as much as possible with filthy language. No, not a movie I would recommend to anyone. Any rating above "3" is bogus.

Honestly I don't understand why people hate this movie i thought it was hilarious and recommend watching it