Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising- Movie Review

The gang from the 2014 hit comedy Neighbors returned to theaters today and this time, they're taking on a sorority. Being that I wasn't a gigantic fan of the original, I wasn't expecting a ton from this. I knew it would be funny and that I'd be entertained. From that standpoint, I don't have a ton of complaints about this film.

This film was exactly what I expected it to be. It was a funny spin-off with the same characters we all liked in the original. The original cast was great. The charisma between Zach Efron and Seth Rogen is fantastic. Rogen is the type of comedic actor who can really bounce off of anybody for hilarious moments. I also have to praise Efron. The dude is legitimately funny and I'm glad to see him doing more comedies. I also loved Rose Byrne. Like in the original film, she was hilarious and had one of the most on screen comedic romances with Rogen ever. I honestly wish they were married in real life. Everything about this film that was also in the original was great. And that was about it. Luckily, the original crew takes up most of the film.

I didn't like any sorority member in this film. The main three girls (portrayed by Chloë Grace Mortez, Kiersey Clemons, and Beanie Feldstein) had terrible character development. Their portion of the story was really underdeveloped and nothing like how the writers developed the frat in the original. By the time the climax of this film occurred, I did not care about any of the sorority members. I also found Mortez character to be extremely annoying and somebody I couldn't relate to. This film took a real dip by burying certain scenes with feminist propaganda which made this film extremely annoying at times. Mortez's character in particular was written in a way that made her super unlikeable. And that's not because she was a feminist in the film. It was just the way the message came off. The only character who wonderfully displayed this theme was Rose Byrne's. And she does it in a few lines. The film really lacked because the main three girls were just annoying, bratty, teenage girls. And I personally don't find that funny.

And that's all to say about this film. The plot is basically the same and the same comedic spots are hit. If you like the first, you'll probably like this too. It's not a bad comedy and it's not a bad comedy sequel. It was just an average comedy and an average comedy sequel.

Rating: C