A bold and hilarious comedy that is much more than the sum of its trailers, Neighbors delivers big time.

New parents Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Radner have the cutest baby ever and are trying to adjust to being parents while trying to still be themselves when the house next door is bought by a fraternity led by Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco). The couple decides the best course of action is to go show the frat how cool and hip they are and the frat in turn takes them in to try to get them onto their side. Things look peachy until the Radners call in a noise complaint to the cops and Teddy declares war.

So that is the most generic synopsis possible and is pretty much exactly what you get in the trailers but the movie is about a fair amount more than that and the way it unfolds is much more surprising than trailers make it look like it will be. I have had a pretty heated hate relationship with trailers lately and the ones for this movie aren’t much different as it spoils some jokes that would have been much stronger if you didn’t see them coming based on the stuff they didn’t show that hit. It is a tricky balance with comedy between showing enough to entice an audience into thinking the movie will be funny without spoiling big jokes and moments.

The plus side for Neighbors is that while jokes are spoiled, there is often more to the spoiled joke so even when you know one part is coming the other part still gets you. And thankfully there are plenty of great moments in the movie that the trailers say nothing about.

Comedies like this are really tough to review because you can’t say too much so you don’t ruin jokes and you can’t really explain any of the jokes without ruining them so what you are left with is ‘it is really funny.’ And Neighbors is really funny. The writing is smart, the performances were on point and the timing is perfect. But there is more to the movie than just the comedy and that helps take it from being every frat comedy we have ever seen to something a bit more worthwhile.

First of all, I really like Nicholas Stoller. His comedies tend to have both heart and laughs. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was amazing  and had a steady stream of laughs while offering characters that you can care about who bring some heart to it.  Get Him to the Greek and Five-Year Engagement change the ratio a bit and offer more of the heart and character moments and have fewer laughs. I like all of those movies, although the latter two had to grow on me a bit.  Neighbors is much more like Sarah Marshall with a steady stream of jokes that hit while still retaining heart and character.

The characters here could have easily been cookie cutter but instead they all have a point of view and somewhere they are coming from and act according to that as opposed to whatever role in the plot the character is meant to play. That they are allowed some real moments blended in with the escalating craziness makes this movie stand out.

It is also worth noting that the movie breaks the mold of goofball husband who has to get reeled in by his practical and normal wife by making the Radners pretty dumb. Both of them are idiots and they do things that idiots would do which not only helps the story along but is also kind of refreshing. There isn’t some sort of grown up feeling of superiority here or any condescension either. They also aren’t so dumb you wonder how they can function as humans or parents but just average, garden variety dumb. They don’t make great choices and there are consequences for that. It might sound like a little thing but it is actually a pretty big deal to the feeling of the story and why it works so well.

A lot of credit goes to the cast, which is excellent. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are both on point as the Radners and sell the struggle the characters are going through to maintain responsibility without losing their own sense of themselves and trying not to feel old or marginalized. Zac Efron is fantastic as Teddy and I feel bad for having doubted him. He reminds me of Channing Tatum in 21 Jump Street in terms of how surprising he is here. His timing is amazing and he really delivers here while holding nothing back. I now want to see him in a lot more. Dave Franco is equally great here and he reminds me of Dave Franco in 21 Jump Street in terms of how…sorry. Dave Franco is good in general and he is especially on point here with a bit more nuanced character who reads very real. Ike Barinholtz and Carla Gallo are both also great as separated friends of the Radners who help them try to get back at the frat.

Conclusion [9 out of 10]

Trailer spoils aside, this is a great and surprising comedy that delivers the entire way through the movie. It also delivers some depth and heart that augment the comedy as opposed to derailing it. The pacing is great and the jokes land pretty hard. This is definitely an R-rated film and as such the humor runs very raw and vulgar so if you are sensitive to that sort of thing then you should avoid. Otherwise it is pretty great across the board.