Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
(Nicholas Stoller)
The trend is and always has been, when you have a successful comedy, make a sequel with similar jokes because people will still laugh at redundant crap. The Austin Powers series is guilty of recycling the same jokes over and over, with a bit of a spin on each one, they still seem to be funny. With Rogen and Efron's comedy sequel, the spin is they swapped genders of the party goers and that's about it.
Mac and Kelly are expecting another child and need to move into a bigger house. The new buyers for their home are hesitant and the house is in escrow for 30 days. This means the new buyers can drop by at anytime and pull out for any reason. No problem, right? Wrong. The old frat house next door is now a sorority house for some young girls who dislike the sexist ways fraternities throw their parties. Can Mac and Kelly shut down yet another party house before the new buyers suspect anything?
The original opened to just under $50 million, the sequel opened to roughly $21 million. Is this because people are tired of uninspired, lazy and unneeded sequels? I sure hope so because there is no logical reason for this film to exist. Story-wise, the film is a been there done that retread of funnier jokes from before. Rogen continues to give us his stoner laugh character that he's been doing for years now and Efron continues his streak of hot guy frat boy. The dynamic of their relationship is different this time around, as Efron is viewed as "too old" from the sorority girls and he teams up with Rogen. The one interesting factor here is how Efron can't seem to move forward in life, despite all his friends having successful lives and careers. He's stuck in the past and blames others.
Rose Byrne continues to be a highlight, even when she is given less to do this time around. Efron's old frat buddies have one or two scene cameos that amount to the same joke over and over. Finally there's the couple friends, played by Ike Barinholtz and Carla Gallo, who are called back into helping them get rid of the girls. They are also expecting and showcase the single gross out scene of the whole film featuring a baby's foot. Yuck.
While I did get some laughs here and there, that's mainly due to the comedy chops of the main cast. Chloë Grace Moretz is surprisingly flat and uninteresting, as are her sisters. The film offers nothing new and continues to play to the young party crowd. I'd say I was disappointed, if I didn't already expect it to be mediocre at best. try re-watching the original before giving this one a try.
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