#REVIEW: “NEIGHBORS 2”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

With the extensive team of five writers, Andrew Jay Cohen, Brendan O’Brien, Nicholas Stoller, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg comes the sequel to the ridiculously entertaining Neighbors, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising picks-up exactly where the audience expects it too, our two main characters having sex again, but actually, with the fraternity brothers living in a different space, filling the audience in with their accomplishments or lack thereof and then our family realizing they’re expecting again. Neighbors 2 is almost the same Movie as the first installment with some new jokes and replacing all the crude male jokes with equally disturbing, if not more lewd female-oriented jokes.  Bloody tampons are whipped. You have been warned. However, the Movie, as ridiculous as it is, is incredibly-entertaining and will satisfy those who loved the first installment.

The Movie focuses on Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) as they are trying to sell their house to a couple of Eric (Sam Richardson) and Jessica (Abbi Jacobson) but are locked in escrow for thirty days and have to seal the deal as they already have another house purchased. This is where things take off, especially for Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is pledging to the sorority lead by the Phi Lamda President (Selena Gomez) and is instantly fed-up when she finds out that the sorority cannot party and are only subjected to the sexist fraternity parties. This is where she along with Nora (Beanie Feldstein) and Beth (Kiersey Clemons) decide to start their own sorority located in the old fraternity house beside Mac and Kelly. After some complications with the brothers Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jerrod Carmichael, Teddy (Zac Efron) moves out and decides to help the sorority girls and seek revenge on Mac and Kelly for ruining his life. After some debacles and failed plans the girls also kick out Teddy and he is left with only one choice, take down the girls and help Mac and Kelly. The question is, can an old fraternity president and two grown adults along with the help of their friends take down a bunch of sorority girls and assure their house gets sold without complications?

Throughout the Movie, the jokes and gags from Neighbors are essentially reused in different ways and if the joke was male-centric it is now female-centric  for effect. It is in a way lazy, yet it still manages to evoke a lot of laughs and some of them still have great success at being absolutely hilarious. Case in point, the unforgettable air bag joke still is pretty funny second time around. Along with the jokes, the actors from the first installment return to their roles like they never left. Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco and Zac Efron, as well as the rest of the returning cast are all having an incredibly-fun time with their roles and excel beyond expectations. Their dedication is what makes the Film as enjoyable and ridiculous as it is expected to be. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising is a fun and entertaining Sequel to a Movie that knows its audience and how to satisfy them.

Universal Pictures Canada releases NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING on Friday, May 20, 2016.