Neighbors

 

By Ian Brockway

 

In what might have been a one joke film under less skillful hands, director Nick Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) comes up with a breezy and playful comedy that stays energetic throughout.

 

 

Seth Rogen, this generation’s Albert Brooks stars as Mac, a recent dad. He has just moved into an upscale neighborhood with his wife Kelly (Rose Byrne).

 

 

Everything seems rosy and green within the hedges until huge moving vans appear with the arrival of some towering Greek letters.

 

 

Alas, a frat house. Mac and Kelly fear the worst, immediately concerned about noise.

 

 

Not wanting to get off on the wrong foot, they attempt to introduce themselves, equipped with a joint. After all, the last thing they want is to be judged as square.

 

 

Teddy (Zac Efron) accepts his neighbors affably enough with some condescension. He humors the couple and their overzealous and embarrassingly obvious slang.

 

 

After some zany proceedings which lampoon Harmony Korine’s recent film “Spring Breakers” as well as other teen party films, Teddy makes Mac promise never to call the cops regarding noise.

 

 

Mac passively agrees.

 

 

The next night, a cacophony ensues. Mac leaves message after message, all for naught. Strung out and over-tired, Mac calls the police thinking that he will remain anonymous.

 

 

The authorities bring Teddy to the couple’s door and Teddy is understandably hurt but lets on that things are status quo.

 

 

As time goes by, however, it is clear that things are far from pleasant.

 

 

Teddy is a near sociopath, driven to make life as upsetting as possible for the two parents.

 

 

As thin as the plot is, the events are fresh and believable with a charming and easy chemistry between Rogen and Byrne.

 

 

Efron has a terrific role here as smarmy as he is clean-cut; he is both sneaky and alluring and there is just a sprig of dark humor which makes it work all the more.

 

 

The story makes a kind of parallel to John G. Avildsen’s ‘80s film, “Neighbors” starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. In that film, Aykroyd played Vic, an obnoxious “Ugly American” type who just couldn’t leave Belushi’s monotone character alone. Vic, like Teddy, was also unbalanced and prone to rages and volatile moods. In one scene, Vic shoots at Belushi with a rifle and is shown with Nazi literature.

 

 

Whether intentional or not, Efron’s character has some of that darkness here. Teddy is a kind of perpetual prep school kid — stunted, narcissistic and craving attention. His only goal: To have a party documented, photographed and put on the wall.

 

 

On the whole, “Neighbors” is a slightly dark extra chapter to TV’s “Undeclared” or the film “Superbad” with Judd Apatow alumni Seth Rogen in his usual self deprecating bearish affability and Christopher Minz-Plasse appearing in the film as a frat baddie.

 

 

Since Stoller has written for Apatow, Apatow’s glibly irreverent but ultimately good natured influence is felt throughout and this is all to the good.

 

 

Once Rogen, Efron and Byrne get on tangents as adversaries there is no stopping this madcap, cyclic farce and the one liners never run away. Who else but Nick Stoller could make fighting with a dildo and Christmas lights funny?

 

 

As an Apatow-apostle comedy, the raunchiness is well in evidence, along with a lightness of being that comes when a young couple does the right thing.

 

 

And if this makes “Neighbors” a bit too predictable, consider Efron’s Teddy as an eerie figure of body worship and partying. Forever encased in the arrogance of an Abercrombie Kid, it feels that Teddy alone will be left bereft, ultimately isolated from the joys that are possible in being a married adult.

 

 

Godzilla

 

The King of the Monsters is here! Director Gareth Edwards (Monsters) has delivered a zesty and pest abundant version of “Godzilla” full of mystery, social consciousness and suspense. Even better, it is a fitting addition to the monster’s original legacy.

 

 

Seemingly just in time, this gargantuan killer Komodo outing is a metaphor for the reactor failures during the 2011 earthquake that hit Japan.

 

 

Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” plays Brody (in a possible nod to Sheriff Brody of Jaws), a physicist who is alone in his knowledge of what is Really going on. There are electromagnetic pulses occurring all over Japan and it appears some force or entity is “talking.” After a devastating electromagnetic storm that causes nuclear plants to be devastated, Brody knows things aren’t right smelling like month old nori.

 

 

Brody’s wife (Juliette Binoche) goes underground with a group and discovers a huge reptilian fossil that could be an erotic dream designed by H.R. Giger.

 

 

Veteran actor Ken Watanabe has a terrific turn as a nuclear scientist who can tell with certainty that this all has a lot to do with mutant amphibians.

 

 

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) plays the reluctant soldier hero driven to preserve the integrity of his father by attempting to go toe to toe with a pair of irradiated insects, but more often than not, he watches from afar.

 

 

The strongest part of the film concerns Nature out of balance and Godzilla is a karmic savior, just a bit rubbery but oddly adorable and apparently composed of some very strong kelp.

 

 

There are some sweeping scenes of decadent tourists living it up in Vegas, as huge praying mantis creatures have some apocalyptic appetizers with mortals on the menu. At times, “Godzilla” echoes Christian paintings of The Rapture as people fall from immense heights, leaping from subways and trains. At one point, there is a skyscraper explosion involving a paratrooper that recalls 9-11.

 

 

As the residents scurry about in terror, Japan is engulfed in black flames while the three leviathans battle in pits within their own scaly psychodrama, creating a kind of Dante’s Inferno for the anime set. The decibel crunching fisticuffs contain a perfect blend of comic craziness that is by no means serious but nonetheless possesses a quaint poignance and nostalgic poetry for all beasts grandiose and giddy with gore. Watch for the scene where Godzilla pries open a Mantis’s mouth and shoots nuclear fire down the throat. This is a gaudy primordial pissing contest but makes for absolute zany fun making a fine link to the 1954 film.

 

 

When Watanabe with great drama and reverence exclaims “Let them fight!” he is crying out for the entire Toho film industry and the monster movie genre as a whole and we cheer along with him.

 

 

Write Ian at [email protected]

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