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Brad Elliott
Mr. Hackney
English 101: Rhetoric
22 October 2014
Knocking on the Neighbors Door
Nicholas Stoller has established a prominent name for himself in recent years as a
director of comedy through works such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek.
This past year Stoller is at it again with his directing of Neighbors, a throwback frat house
movie with girls, parties, and laughs. Stoller isolates his creation from all past fraternity movies
by introducing an opposing party to the fraternity which plays a large role the entire movie. A
couple of new parents, Mac and Kelly, want their baby and themselves to be able to sleep at
night, but they dont want to come off as the lame neighbors. The whole movie they struggle
with maintaining adult-like figures, while also trying to persuade the fraternity that they arent
washed up and old. Although the critics Christopher Orr and Wesley Morris agree that Rose
Byrne does well keeping up with Seth Rogens pace of comedy, they have differing opinions on
the quality of the actors performances in relation to the success of the movie as a whole.
Seth Rogens typical comical acts differ at large from the reserved Rose Byrne. In
Neighbors, Orr and Morris agree that Byrne does well at breaking out of her usual shell to keep
up with Rogens crude humor. As Orr puts it, Byrne has her moments of unexpected comic
flair that allow her to be noticed in an attempt to outdo Rogen (Orr). Her subtle one-liners allow
her to compete the entire movie as Rogen produces constant humor to keep the audience
laughing. Propriety is her tonal undercard, Morris says (Morris). She does well configuring her
humor to Rogens, allowing the humorous conversations to flow well between the two. Morris

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goes on to say that though shes [Byrne] not as nimble a comedian as he is [Rogen] she is a
better reactor to the nonsense (Morris). Overall, both critics believe that Byrne does very well
adjusting her typical acting to keep up with Rogens comedy and allow the two to successfully
work as a team throughout the movie.
Though both critics believe that Byrne performs well in the film, their opinions differ as
they analyze other actors performances. Zac Efrons acting in particular evokes many critiques
from Orr, while Morris sees his performance in a more positive light. Orr says that, shirt on or
shirt off, Efrons a little too stiff, too aware of the camera (Orr). Efrons actions are based off of
the camera according to Orr, making it almost apparent that he is acting rather than actually
being his character. Whereas Morris comes from an opposite standpoint, believing that Efron is
amusing simply because you didnt think Efron had this kind of amusement in him (Morris).
While Orr criticizes Efrons disposition in front of the camera, Morris feels that he plays his part
well as a typical fraternity, party student. Efrons strengths and weaknesses throughout the film
are emphasized separately as each review touches on differing aspects.
As Orr and Morris disagree on the strengths of the actors performances, they also
disagree on the success of the movie as a whole. Morris states that the film could have dropped
the usual temptations next door, but Neighbors is cleverer than that (Morris). It is the real life
issues addressed in the movie that make it stand out from typical frat movies. The fact that the
movie touches on the issue of newer generations difficulty transitioning into the adult world, sets
the film aside from other party movies. Though Morris enjoys the issue of parenting brought
forward, Orr says that the flimsiest conception of...parenthood is just one of the movies many
problems (Orr). Seth Rogen and Rose Byrnes roles do not even contend as plausible parents for
the scenario introduced in the movie. This idea sort of diminishes the original issue of parenting,

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because Mac and Kelly do not realistically even seem parent-worthy. The point of Orrs
argument is that there are holes in the plot that take away from the actual message that may lie
underneath all the shenanigans of the movie.
Overall, Wesley and Orr disagree on the overall success of the movie in terms of its plot
and meaning, but they do concur that there were effective points that give the movie a flair of its
own. Both analyze the impact that the actors and actresses have on the film, and show that some
performers had a positive impact while others were hard to watch. Though the critics see the
movie as just another typical frat movie, they see that original ideas were introduced into the film
changing the meaning and message of it completely. These original ideas allowed the movie to
take on a shape of its own, isolated from anything that has been done before.

Work Cited
Morris, Wesley. "Beat the Parents." Grantland. ESPN Internet Ventures, 9 May
2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
Orr, Christopher. "Bad Neighbors." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 9

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May 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.