With
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, director Nicholas Stoller burst onto
the film comedy scene with a fully-formed voice. Able to balance the
considerations of broad comedy and intimate character work adroitly, Stoller
made the best Judd Apatow-styled movie that Apatow himself did not direct. And
although his next two films (Get Him to the Greek and The
Five-Year Engagement) didn’t manage those two competing interests as
cleanly, they still showed a filmmaker uninterested in manufactured conflict. There
are no villains in Stoller’s movies, only circumstances that allow for his
characters to behave in ways both sophomoric and sympathetic.
His
newest work, Neighbors, is a return-to-form, telling story of an
escalating war between a young married couple replete with newborn (Seth Rogen
and Rose Byrne) and the frat house (headed by Zac Efron and Dave Franco) that
moves in next door that somehow manages sympathy to both parties. That
magnanimity extends to the comedy, with a college atmosphere that sees
veteran comedic talent co-mingling with relative newcomers that allows for
every major character to earn big laughs.
Rose
Byrne has been in comedies before, but even the female-dominated Bridesmaids
didn’t allow her the opportunity to let loose like she does here. The film is
incredibly knowing in how they construct her Kelly character, never making her
the shrew that forbids Rogen’s Mac from partying with the frat next door,
instead creating a woman just as interested in acting a fool after months of
mothering that has left her stir crazy. Both of these characters are far enough
away from the college experience that they want to convey a measure of parental
authority but still close enough to try to convince these youngsters (and
themselves) that they’re still hip and vital. There’s a joy in watching both of
these characters behave like idiots, a kind of mutual matrimonial mania that we
simply don’t see in our phallocentric American comedies.
Equally
surprising is Zac Efron – his performance in the wretched That Awkward
Moment earlier this year made me question whether this performer would
ever be able to transition from his position as a tween heartthrob, but his
work here removes all doubt. Taking a character which would be the alpha male
butt of a lesser comedy’s jokes throughout and finding the humanity underlying
his desperate attempts at becoming a party legend, Efron showcases a comedic
vulnerability that feels like a breakthrough similar to what Channing Tatum did
with 21 Jump Street. His pairing with Dave Franco (James’ younger
brother) creates a relationship equal of the Rogen/Byrne pairing, with all
parties either fast-approaching or attempting to flee the constraints of
adulthood.
The
film does commit some of the sins of Stoller’s lesser work –funny actors and
actresses (Hannibal Buress and Carla Gallo, to name two) are kept on the
periphery and never really given enough character moments or comedic bits to
justify their frequent inclusion. Operating in that mode creates a slackness to
the pacing that creates the occasional lull, although it must be said that
Stoller films and edits party scenes of finely-organized chaos with a superior
to any of his comedy director contemporaries. A mid-film set piece wherein
Byrne hatches her plot to destroy the frat is one for the ages for both
director and performer alike. But any quibbles are minor when dealing with a
comedy whose jokes hit far more frequently than they miss. Neighbors
might lack the qualities of an all-time classic, but it’s immensely funny and surprisingly
thoughtful in its construction, or at least as thoughtful as any film featuring
a duel between two men brandishing sex toys can possibly be.
