When the world’s cutest baby is the best thing about an adult comedy starring Seth Rogen, Zac Effron and Rose Byrne you know you could be in for a spot of bother. It’s not that Bad Neighbours (or Neighbours as it’s called Stateside) is particularly bad, in fact it’s quite funny and downright hilarious in places. But it just seems to take an age to get going and when it does it feels a bit lethargic.
A couple (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) with a newborn baby find themselves having to deal with a fraternity house (composed of mainly Zac Effron and Dave Franco) that move in next door. All goes well until our new parents break a promise of not calling the cops on the frat house. From there on in it’s all out war, with a bunch of pranks and strategic planning that would be familiar inside a war room. These pranks and set pieces are quite funny at times, bland at others and on occasion you’ll choke on your popcorn. A fantastic use of air bags aside, most of them are unmemorable.
The cast though, are anything but unmemorable. Seth Rogen and Zac Effron are on absolute fire, with Rogen in particular being very brave. He appears topless in more than a handful of scenes and completely starkers in another. While no Jabba the Hutt, Seth, like many of us, could shape up a bit, but it’s this uncompromising performance that will have you laughing. Regardless of what type of shape Rogen could have been in, he is no match for Zac Effron who is in phenomenal shape and oozes charisma and personality. He most certainly will have you drooling into your popcorn. You can’t really fault the entertainment that they bring here and coupled with a great supporting cast, especially Dave Franco and Chris Mintz-Plasse, it’s a shame that the pacing and a ropey script drags it down. And it comes as a surprise that the very talented director, Nicholas Stoller, could let things slide like this.
All that said, the cast make the negatives forgivable and Bad Neighbours is a perfectly acceptable way to spend 90 odd minutes in a cinema and is certainly worth a punt!
