Bad Neighbours 2 (2016) Review 

Bad Neighbours 2 (2016) (aka US Title: Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising)

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Starring: Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
After a sorority moves in next door, which is even more debaucherous than the fraternity before it, Mac and Kelly have to ask for help from their former enemy, Teddy.

My Opinion:

There’s seriously no need for me to blather on & on for this review – If you liked the first film, you’ll like this one. It’s the exact same movie again but with a sorority instead of a fraternity. It’s not perfect and the first one is of course better, as is the case 90% of the time with all these comedy sequels, but you don’t exactly go to movies like these expecting Sunset Boulevard or something anyway (yeah, I reviewed that yesterday – I’m diverse!). 😉 There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes but you don’t have to rush out to the cinema to see this one unless you really love comedies like these (I went on the cheap day!). I actually quite enjoyed the first movie, as far as modern comedies go, but I haven’t found anything truly funny since The Princess Bride. And Wayne’s World! (Ha! Showing my age). You can find my review of the first movie HERE if you desperately want to read it.

Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne are exactly the same as they were in the first one. There were some decent jokes & they once again had some funny sex scenes (like the opening scene – the movie started out quite promising but lost its way). Well, there was one difference: I think they were possibly even worse parents this time than in the first film! That poor kid. You should enjoy this fine if you’re the age of the sorority girls but us old parents get a little stressed out if we think a kid in a film isn’t being looked after. I’m still freaked out that they left her alone in the house in the first one (they had a baby monitor with) & that the air bag stunt could’ve killed her! But, let’s move on – this is a fictional comedy not meant to be taken seriously… (But, really, you shouldn’t smoke weed around your kids! WTF). Okay. I’m done. Moving on.

I like Chloë Grace Moretz and liked her fine in this but don’t really think that dumb comedies suit her – she should stick to stuff like Kick-Ass & Let Me In. Zac Efron is a bit better in this type of thing. He doesn’t do it for me (gross! he’s a kid!) but girls who like him will be happy to know he’s shirtless & in tiny shorts for lots of this movie.

I don’t really know what to say here. It’s honestly the same movie again. In any other genre, I’d probably complain about that. But, meh – it’s a dumb comedy. Who cares? As long as you get a few chuckles out of it (I did). I did like that this movie has three normal (and slightly nerdy) girls who become friends & decide to start their own “fun” sorority (as opposed to air-headed dress-like-sluts sorority). They decide to do this after leaving a frat party they call too “rapey” & they don’t want anyone calling them a ho. (What’s the plural of a ho?! Hos doesn’t look right but Hoes are garden tools. Hmm. It has to be Hoes, though). Anyway – RIGHT ON with all that! I don’t understand all that college bullshit. It’s just a shame that three girls I’d almost want to hang out with myself at first turn into over-the-top nightmare neighbors for the sake of the movie’s unoriginal plot. They’re probably even worse than the boys in the first film. Oh well. I liked this movie okay & it had its funny moments but it’s unlikely that I’d watch either of them again. Now I must go & call social services on the parents….

My Rating: 6.5/10

**Oh! And I just realized that I can add a scene from Bad Neighbours 2 as an honorable mention in my recent list of My Top Ten Period Scenes In Movies! What is it with Chloë Grace Moretz & period scenes?? She’s Period Proud! 🙂

My Top Ten Movies With Different Titles Outside The U.S.

With the release of (the hugely disappointing) Zootopia, being renamed Zootropolis in the UK & other parts of Europe, I’ve been thinking about all the movies with different titles in the US & the UK.

I understand the reason for some title changes, often due to different spellings or the name already being used for something else in another country. But some of the changes are just bizarre. With Zootopia, I believe it’s because it’s the name of some zoo that’s being opened soon in Europe?

I haven’t done much research into the reasons for the name changes in this list but I’ve put the reasons if I know them. And I’ll only be listing the titles in the United States & the United Kingdom as those are the ones I’m most aware of (I’ll start with the US title). As usual, I’ll just rank these according to what movies I like the most that happened to have different names in different countries.

So, counting down to my favorite movie, these are My Top Ten Movies With Different Titles Outside Of The United States:

10. Neighbors
UK Title: Bad Neighbours
Name I Prefer: Bad Neighbours
Why The Change?: Probably because of the Australian soap, Neighbours, which is shown on TV in the UK.

9. A Brilliant Young Mind
UK Title: X+Y
Name I Prefer: X+Y
Why The Change?: Not sure but the US title is closer to the name of the documentary the director made before making this movie.

8. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
UK Title: Harold & Kumar Get The Munchies
Name I Prefer: Harold & Kumar Get The Munchies
Why The Change?: Because White Castle isn’t a restaurant in the UK.

7. The Avengers
UK Title: Marvel’s Avengers Assemble
Name I Prefer: The Avengers
Why The Change?: I read why somewhere but I’ve forgotten & don’t care enough to look it up again. 😉

6. Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone
UK Title: Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone
Name I Prefer: Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone
Why The Change?: I’m not sure but I think it had something to do with them thinking that Americans wouldn’t understand what a “Philosopher’s Stone” was. Stupid title change!

5. Joyride
UK Title: Roadkill
Name I Prefer: Joyride
Why The Change?: I think it’s because a “joyride” in the UK refers to when a car is stolen (often by young males) and then abandoned (and often set fire to) at the side of the road. The name Roadkill does actually make more sense for this movie… (which is a guilty pleasure of mine).

4. The Peanuts Movie
UK Title: Snoopy & Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie
Name I Prefer: The Peanuts Movie
Why The Change?: I assume because Peanuts isn’t as well known in the UK but everyone knows who Charlie Brown and Snoopy are. Because Snoopy RULES. 🙂

3. The Road Warrior
UK Title: Mad Max 2
Name I Prefer: Mad Max 2
Why The Change?: I believe because the first film didn’t get a wide release in the US so they didn’t want to promote this film as a sequel.

2. Breakin’ & Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo
UK Title: Breakdance & Breakdance 2: Electric Boogaloo
Name I Prefer: Breakin’, I suppose
Why The Change?: No idea! Guess they just wanted to be more specific in the UK.

1. Adventures In Babysitting
UK Title: A Night On The Town
Name I Prefer: Adventures In Babysitting
Why The Change?: I have no idea but it appears to now have the US title in the UK. Both names aren’t great but A Night On The Town really sucks.

Some Other Title Changes:
These are all the movies I could think of but I found a list with more at Wikipedia if you’re interested. There are some funny ones I didn’t know about, like Bonnie And Clyde originally being called Bonnie And Clyde…Were Killers! in the UK.

US: Zootopia UK: Zootropolis

US: Perfect Catch UK: Fever Pitch

US: Pirate Radio UK: The Boat That Rocked

US: Dead Alive UK: Braindead

US: Tomorrowland UK: Tomorrowland: A World Beyond

US: Reindeer Games UK: Deception

US: Encino Man UK: California Man

US: Harry And The Hendersons UK: Bigfoot And The Hendersons

US: Howard The Duck UK: Howard: A New Breed Of Hero

US: The Professional UK: Leon

US: Point Of No Return UK: The Assassin

US: Hoosiers UK: Best Shot

US: Live Free Or Die Hard UK: Die Hard 4.0

US: The Mighty Ducks UK: Champions

Bad Neighbours (2014) Review (aka Neighbors)

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Bad Neighbours (2014) (aka Neighbors – US Title)

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Starring:
Seth Rogen
Zac Efron
Rose Byrne
Dave Franco
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Lisa Kudrow
Craig Roberts
Ike Barinholtz
Jake Johnson
Hannibal Buress
Halston Sage
Ali Cobrin

Running time: 97 minutes

Plot Synopsis:
A couple (Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne) have to deal with the difficulties of trying to raise their young baby after a noisy college fraternity suddenly moves in next door. It turns into an all-out war & (predictable) HILARITY ENSUES!

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My Opinion:

Don’t you hate when movie titles get changed for other countries? I think the dumbest one was maybe Adventures In Babysitting being called A Night On The Town elsewhere. Also, Joy Ride was given the (just as dumb) title of Roadkill in the UK. The first Harold & Kumar movie was called Harold & Kumar Get The Munchies as we don’t have White Castles here. Reindeer Games was renamed Deception (no clue why). The fabulous & underrated Searching For Bobby Fischer was renamed Innocent Moves (what a sucky title!). There are tons more but I won’t waste your time any longer. At least Neighbors being changed to Bad Neighbours isn’t too bad and I suppose makes sense as everyone here apparently loves a stupid-looking Australian soap opera named Neighbours that I’ve never seen but it seems every Australian actor has been in it at least once. But I digress. Massively. Onto the review…

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Bad Neighbours is, well, exactly what you’d expect from a comedy with Seth Rogen in it. I like some of his movies okay and don’t like others as much (This Is The End was decent but I don’t really get Superbad – maybe I need to watch it again). I liked The 40 Year-Old Virgin okay (written by the writers of Bad Neighbours). Basically, I can take or leave most of this kind of stuff – comedy isn’t really my favorite genre. But Bad Neighbours is, overall, one of the better ones in my opinion and I did laugh a good few times.

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As I knew beforehand, since I’m old, it was the couple with the baby that I could relate to in this & not the college students. I suppose they’ve kind of managed to hit two target audiences this way. Although, as the hubby pointed out, this feels like it was written by those more our age (I don’t know the ages of the writers) so it didn’t feel quite as natural during the Zac Efron/frat party scenes as it did when Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne were onscreen. I suppose this is partly why I found any scenes with Rogen & Byrne far more funny than those with just Zac Efron & his frat brothers (especially the Rogen/Byrne sex scenes – they were pretty funny & I’m not exactly into “sex comedies”). I was worried beforehand that I’d just be too annoyed by the antics of the fraternity (I’m old. I can’t relate to horny, drunken twentysomethings). 😉 But, luckily, I don’t think they went too overboard & they didn’t make any of them too hateful. Indeed, there are good & bad from each side of this “neighbor war” and you may find that you change sides at times. (Although I was ALWAYS on the side of the couple with one of the most adorable baby girls EVER! Look at her! Awww. So freaking cute!). 🙂

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So… Yeah. I don’t know. This movie was fun and I did enjoy it. It’s not the best comedy ever and it’s certainly not the worst. There are things I’d have done differently (such as the ending, which doesn’t quite feel resolved). But I didn’t HATE it in any way, which is how I feel about some comedies these days. There’s plenty of juvenile humor and loads of “dick jokes” but nothing I found totally stupid and nothing that I found offensive. And, I don’t want to sound uptight, but I think too much “comedy” resorts to sexist behavior that really gets on my nerves. There are some naked boobs in this, naturally, but for once the girls in a comedy weren’t treated like nothing more than a pair of tits. Yes, it’s of course mostly male actors as it’s a fraternity (I doubt it would pass The Bechdel test) but at least Rose Byrne’s role was just as big as Rogen’s & I think she did a really good job here and was very funny (Even though you see her boobs. Kind of. Not sure if they were really hers… Lol – You’ll see what I mean if you see it).

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Summary:

If you go to this expecting to have a few good laughs and to not have to think too much for 97 minutes, you should like this just fine. If you like Seth Rogen and/or any of the other people involved in this and the other movies they’ve made, you should like this just fine. I’m sorry this review makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy this much because I actually did – it’s just not my first choice of genre but I do like to have a bit of silly fun with a movie like this sometimes. I liked This Is The End and Bad Neighbours is kind of up there with that one for me – the concept is much more simple and it’s nowhere near as over the top but there are some genuinely funny moments in both movies.

My Rating: 7/10

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