Neighbors

[Warning: Possible Spoilers]

Honestly, I thought it was called Bad Neighbours, but according to my dear friend, Google, that is the movie's title outside of North America. I'm guessing then that I learned the title while watching Zac Efron and Seth Rogen on the Graham Norton show.

First thing you should know: this movie is full of explicit content aka "adult humor." I don't mind this, but ironically, I find an over abundance of these jokes to be somewhat childish. Second thing you should know: there is a really cute family element to this film.

Mac and Kelly, recently new parents to a little girl, Stella, are trying to find a balance between the fun and partying of their old lifestyle and the responsibility of having a child. They are resisting the eventuality that they will becoming boring people whose lives revolve around their baby. But they still want to be good parents.

And then the Delta Psi fraternity moves into the house next door, and a feud forms. They attempt friendship at first, but the partying quickly gets out of hand for the family, and so they call the cops. A lot of pranking and fighting happens between the neighbours, in an attempt to force each other to surrender. The couple and their friends do whatever they can to get the fraternity suspended or broken up, while the frat tries to scare them into giving up and then temporarily breaks the couple up. As you might expect, the family wins after an absolutely crazy night. However, a friendship is formed between Teddy and Mac (although nothing like the adorable friendship Teddy has with Pete).

I have to admit that there are no stand out moments from this movie that made me think, "That is so hilarious" or "Wow, so emotional." There were, however, a few moments that made me say "I wish we never had to see that!" I'd rather not explain what those are on the Internet, but if you watched the movie, you'd know what I meant.

The movie was entertaining, but by far the best part was Dave Franco and Zac Efron. Mostly because they're gorgeous, but also because the bromance between Pete and Teddy is adorable. (SPOILER FOR SEQUEL) There are hints that Pete has a major crush on Teddy, which he most likely does based on the fact that he turns out to be gay.

I feel that my biggest problem with this movie was how irresponsible the parents were. Boys will be boys, and university boys are the worst of all, so their shenanigans were sometimes frustrating, but ultimately acceptable. What bothered me was that the parents of a little girl so often put fun an scheming ahead of their child. Luckily, they see the problem with this by the end of the movie. The family theme - no matter how much it gets obscured by the insanity of frat brothers - is the thing that makes this movie so great.