Bad Neighbours (May 2014)

Official Australian release date: 8/5/14. Viewed: 3/5/14.

Director: Nicholas Stoller

Actors: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz

Genre: Comedy

Rating: MA

‘Bad Neighbours’ is a really enjoyable and well-made comedy. Plenty of laughs throughout, with a great cast and decent ending. Rogen plays his usual loveable buffoon and Byrne is surprisingly good as his wife, as she’s allowed to keep her Aussie accent, rather than doing a fake American one. But the way they act together, with their cute baby, is quite realistic and charming. The whole plot is really simple – a frat moves in, they don’t like it, so a battle to get rid of them escalates.

There’s an excellent support cast – Hannibal Buress as the cop (particularly the Garfield bit), Lisa Kudrow as the Dean & Jason Mantzoukas as the doctor all have some great lines. There’s some drawn-out fraternity/party scenes, but overall it’s well-paced, with constant jokes and funny moments throughout. Even the baby gets a few laughs, particularly during the calendar shoot!

Efron & (the younger) Franco do a good job as the frat-boys, but it’s pretty predictable – except for some of the pranks (& fights) they pull, which have heaps of laughs. It’s probably not as good as ‘Old School’, but still better than some of Rogen’s recent comedies.

Overall: Very fun Seth Rogen comedy.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.