Ugh.
Ya know, I'm trying my hardest to support comedy films these days. I think with the rise of meme and internet culture, it's hard to make a great comedy film. I liked Trainwreck, even though it went full romantic comedy towards the end. I like most of Seth Rogen's movies (yes, I'm a sucker for them, sorry), and I LOVE Edger Wright's films.
I liked the first Neighbors. It was inoffensive to a degree, and it never went full fucked up, even when it really could have, which was nice, it never went too far (even if it did, I still would have enjoyed it) and it made me laugh. Characters were likable enough, and everyone acted fine.
So, what about this one?
This movie was garbage. Hot, full, fly-infested, pandering garbage. Sprinkled with some funny moments, with remains of a more interesting movie, but fuck it, girl power!(?)
Okay, I guess to start this off, let's mention the feminism wave in film as of late.
We are witnessing a new era of blockbuster. Over the years, I'll admit, women have not had a lot of badass, or good roles. We have a few sprinkled here and there, but otherwise, the market was full of John Wayne types, or Keanu Reeves types. So, are men the only heroes in film? I mean, if you look in film history, of course not. But in Hollywood, oh yeah, we were sexist assholes, and we still were up until sort of recently. Mostly female heroes were reserved for horror films.. as a way to make it scarier that a "weak" woman had to battle the forces of the supernatural, or a killer, or whatever. Of course, you can argue that men could not handle this at all, as you see them die all the time in horror films. A degree that is interesting, but kind of damaged.
Otherwise, most action movies were just dudes. Same with comedies.
Women were often objects, or useless, or were only there to fill a quota.
(I know this is sounding like an Anika Sharkman essay, but here me out.)
Women often got the ropes to few genres. Mostly romantic comedies.
It also plays into the whole "women are not funny" stigma. I mean, of course women are funny, they're half of the goddamn population, there are funny people here. But any time a female lead the film, it was a "girlie" movie, or it was a romantic comedy. And for awhile, that was the case.
Until recently, we had a blockbuster feminism resurgence. (Not the Independence Day one either.)
We have women starring in a LOT of great movies. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a great example. Big blockbuster with a great main character in the main role.
Now, with the Internet age and all, is this change due to the studios changing their ideals? Or is this pandering, like it always is? The new PC era, where everything is somehow a problem to someone. I know I sound like a GOP fuckhead where "everyone is afraid to say bad stuff now, THAT'S NOT HOW IT USED TO BE!" But in the liberal Hollywood landscape, I can say it's probably both.
Like, I can kind of see where these anti-PC people can get that narrative from. A lot of the time, we fucking complain. To be fair, a good amount is for very valid statements.
As nerds, that's a given. As a human on the internet, it's a big given. But now, the Internet is a huge outlet for studios to hear what the fans, nerds, and general audiences want.
We wanted better female characters, boom. We got it.
I believe it's great, and we needed it. I'm a person who will bring up the "female role model" argument. It's an actual thing, man. Not every girl wants to be a princess, they wanna save the princess/prince. When a group of kids play on the playground, they don't always wanna be Leia, they wanna be Rey. It's one of those "why not?" things.
So, the point to all this is, why apply this philosophy to the fucking Neighbors movies?
The film starts off pretty good. You get these sorority girls who are tired of the same ol' frat party. Themes of drugs and rape culture come to light. (Why in this type of film, I will never know.) And, in rebellion, they start their own sorority, the way they wanted to. Which is a decent set-up, and it would've worked. Instead of making them, ya know, likable, they just make them look really dumb and made jokes about how clueless millennials are. I didn't like it anytime they were on screen, and every joke made either felt forced or it did not hit right. Is Chloe Grace Mortez a one movie gal? Was Kick-Ass her magnum opus? I have not seen one film where I really liked her in it.
Honestly, I could've watched an entire film based off Teddy, Zac Efron's character. I feel very weird saying that just now. His entire conflict and insecurities was way more interesting, and it could've led to something a little more funnier. And their group of friends is the only time I felt like this movie had some sort of progression. I kind of would rather watch a film about them, instead of this one.
Maybe if the cast was shifted around with other, more funny people, and the script was rewritten, this could have worked. But, it just did not.
This also adds to the "most unnecessary movie sequels" list. This is definitely a movie where money was a huge factor, instead of wanting to make a fun movie, like the last one was. Instead, it panders with a feminist angle, which in a way is more insulting, because the women in this film who wanted to change things don't know that a older phone had fucking cords.
Look, I know this is supposed to be a harmless, inoffensive sequel, but instead it's polarizing.
The first one was good because it was dumb and simple. It was never more than that, and it was great in that sense. I don't want to be pandered to, I just want fun, and this was not fun.
3/10
Ya know, I'm trying my hardest to support comedy films these days. I think with the rise of meme and internet culture, it's hard to make a great comedy film. I liked Trainwreck, even though it went full romantic comedy towards the end. I like most of Seth Rogen's movies (yes, I'm a sucker for them, sorry), and I LOVE Edger Wright's films.
I liked the first Neighbors. It was inoffensive to a degree, and it never went full fucked up, even when it really could have, which was nice, it never went too far (even if it did, I still would have enjoyed it) and it made me laugh. Characters were likable enough, and everyone acted fine.
So, what about this one?
This movie was garbage. Hot, full, fly-infested, pandering garbage. Sprinkled with some funny moments, with remains of a more interesting movie, but fuck it, girl power!(?)
Okay, I guess to start this off, let's mention the feminism wave in film as of late.
We are witnessing a new era of blockbuster. Over the years, I'll admit, women have not had a lot of badass, or good roles. We have a few sprinkled here and there, but otherwise, the market was full of John Wayne types, or Keanu Reeves types. So, are men the only heroes in film? I mean, if you look in film history, of course not. But in Hollywood, oh yeah, we were sexist assholes, and we still were up until sort of recently. Mostly female heroes were reserved for horror films.. as a way to make it scarier that a "weak" woman had to battle the forces of the supernatural, or a killer, or whatever. Of course, you can argue that men could not handle this at all, as you see them die all the time in horror films. A degree that is interesting, but kind of damaged.
Otherwise, most action movies were just dudes. Same with comedies.
Women were often objects, or useless, or were only there to fill a quota.
(I know this is sounding like an Anika Sharkman essay, but here me out.)
Women often got the ropes to few genres. Mostly romantic comedies.
It also plays into the whole "women are not funny" stigma. I mean, of course women are funny, they're half of the goddamn population, there are funny people here. But any time a female lead the film, it was a "girlie" movie, or it was a romantic comedy. And for awhile, that was the case.
Until recently, we had a blockbuster feminism resurgence. (Not the Independence Day one either.)
We have women starring in a LOT of great movies. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a great example. Big blockbuster with a great main character in the main role.
Now, with the Internet age and all, is this change due to the studios changing their ideals? Or is this pandering, like it always is? The new PC era, where everything is somehow a problem to someone. I know I sound like a GOP fuckhead where "everyone is afraid to say bad stuff now, THAT'S NOT HOW IT USED TO BE!" But in the liberal Hollywood landscape, I can say it's probably both.
Like, I can kind of see where these anti-PC people can get that narrative from. A lot of the time, we fucking complain. To be fair, a good amount is for very valid statements.
As nerds, that's a given. As a human on the internet, it's a big given. But now, the Internet is a huge outlet for studios to hear what the fans, nerds, and general audiences want.
We wanted better female characters, boom. We got it.
I believe it's great, and we needed it. I'm a person who will bring up the "female role model" argument. It's an actual thing, man. Not every girl wants to be a princess, they wanna save the princess/prince. When a group of kids play on the playground, they don't always wanna be Leia, they wanna be Rey. It's one of those "why not?" things.
So, the point to all this is, why apply this philosophy to the fucking Neighbors movies?
The film starts off pretty good. You get these sorority girls who are tired of the same ol' frat party. Themes of drugs and rape culture come to light. (Why in this type of film, I will never know.) And, in rebellion, they start their own sorority, the way they wanted to. Which is a decent set-up, and it would've worked. Instead of making them, ya know, likable, they just make them look really dumb and made jokes about how clueless millennials are. I didn't like it anytime they were on screen, and every joke made either felt forced or it did not hit right. Is Chloe Grace Mortez a one movie gal? Was Kick-Ass her magnum opus? I have not seen one film where I really liked her in it.
Honestly, I could've watched an entire film based off Teddy, Zac Efron's character. I feel very weird saying that just now. His entire conflict and insecurities was way more interesting, and it could've led to something a little more funnier. And their group of friends is the only time I felt like this movie had some sort of progression. I kind of would rather watch a film about them, instead of this one.
Maybe if the cast was shifted around with other, more funny people, and the script was rewritten, this could have worked. But, it just did not.
This also adds to the "most unnecessary movie sequels" list. This is definitely a movie where money was a huge factor, instead of wanting to make a fun movie, like the last one was. Instead, it panders with a feminist angle, which in a way is more insulting, because the women in this film who wanted to change things don't know that a older phone had fucking cords.
Look, I know this is supposed to be a harmless, inoffensive sequel, but instead it's polarizing.
The first one was good because it was dumb and simple. It was never more than that, and it was great in that sense. I don't want to be pandered to, I just want fun, and this was not fun.
3/10
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