Ed's Review Dot Com

Good Universe, Point Grey Pictures,

Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow, Craig Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Carla Gallo, Halston Sage

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) are a newlywed couple with a daughter. They live in a simple suburban home. The house next door is up for sale, and they take a lot of interest to see who the new neighbors will be, but when the guys from the fraternity move in and turn it into a frat house led by fraternity president Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), things go from bad to worse to worst. They party all night, with loud music that keep everyone awake. At first Mac and Kelly try to be friendly with the boys and try to party with them to make friends and get their cooperation, but when that fails, they start escalating a war with the frat that spirals WAY out of control.

This is a hilarious comedy reminiscent of the old great comedies of long ago. It’s modern and fresh, and unique twist, but the gags run from slapstick to up to date technology gags that are right out of the pages of today’s college kids. To make it even more enjoyable, I have a bit of a story to tell.

We went up for Mother’s Day to UC Santa Barbara. My daughter had to work for a while, so my wife and I went to the theater closest to the school to watch a movie. The timing was wrong for everything else, but Neighbors was coming on at 8:15, so we chose it. We figured a Seth Rogen film would be a few laughs. The theater ended up packed, every seat full, all 20ish college kids. We were the only old people in the theater. Since I work in the IT field, I am up to date on new technology and so I got the jokes. But the frat jokes in particular, especially with the way things are today with the latest web sites and communication devices was especially funny to the young people because they obviously got all the jokes. I imagined watching this back at home in a theater full of adults with many of the jokes just going over their heads. Not this crowd. It was really interesting to see which gags cracked them up and compare to what it would be like seeing this without the theater filled with students. Anyway, needless to say, unlike the teens we often see at home, with the theater packed, the crowd was very respectful, quiet with no one texting or making phone calls and laughing at the right places. Though we were crowded, it was a really enjoyable experience.

Now back to the film. This is the kind of role that fits Seth Rogen perfectly. He plays the kid who’s grown up now and realizing that he needs to take some responsibility, but dropping back into his youth to party with the frat and play childish pranks trying to outdo each other. New parents have the problem of their close friends from the past living a wild and free single lifestyle when they have a child and a job and too much to do. The frat house next door, though a curse, also is a chance to step back into their younger days. The comedy is really good, the jokes are non-stop, and it’s a randy adult comedy that doesn’t let up. I really enjoyed this film and recommend it for comedy fans everywhere.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Everest Entertainment, Cha Cha Cha, Mockingbird Pictures

Alexandria Salling, Connor Kramme, Annette Bening, Eileen Ryan, Samuel L Jackson, Naomi Watts, Cherry Jones, Kerry Washington,  David Ramsey, Kay, D’Arcy, Bradford Alex, Jimmy Smits, Elipida Carrillo, Simone Lopez, Carla Gallo

Mother and Child is one of those trilogies in a single movie stories.  It’s basically about 3 women.  First is Karen (Annette Benning) who became pregnant when she was 14 and gave the baby up for adaption.  Now 35 years later, she’s always regretted what she has done and is a very bitter, actually mean, person.   The second is her daughter, Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) who has grown into a woman with hardly any heart.  She’s a tough cookie and doesn’t trust anyone, especially men, but not opposed in the least to use her attractiveness to gain whatever advantage she can.  She went to Mexico for a tubal ligation when she was 17 and was shocked when she suddenly turned up pregnant.   The third story is about an African American wife who wants a child but cannot have one.  She and her husband are given the opportunity to adopt, but later complications arise.  The mother decides to keep the baby and the husband decides something even worse.

This is a typical indie type film, very, very slow to develop.  In one way the story is very cut and dried and you’re certain where it’s going to end up.  But there are a number of surprises coming along, and not what you would expect.  The way the lives of the three women cross is really strange and amazing.  There are twists and turns galore.  Truly it’s very ironic and very sad, and I would say depressing in a lot of ways.   This is not a friend family feel good picture by any means.  It’s very dark and deep, and it develops very, very slowly.  If you stick with it to the end, you will see that it’s very well written and the actors are very good as well.  But my fear is that a lot of people are not going to want to stick through the whole thing to get the the twist ending where two people meet who you would never have expected to get together.  If you like deep sincere indie films, you’ll like this one I’m sure, but be warned that it is a very slow developing relationship picture and not an easy thing to watch.  If you’re looking just to be entertained, this isn’t it, but if you don’t mind working through an intense film, it’s good.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog