Chris Luckett

Neighbors was a rare comedy, at once eliciting uproarious belly laughs with slapstick and farce, while also making an unexpectedly nuanced and mature statement about the male ego and insecurities about aging.

Of course, where studio heads are concerned, the most important thing is that it was profitable, meaning a sequel was immediately greenlit. Moreover, laughs are easier to elicit than insight is to encourage, so the odds were good that the second Neighbors would spend all its energy repeating a bunch of the same jokes while not bothering with the intelligence that helped the original be more than just funny.

In fairness to Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, it actually does have something to say, just like the original, and this time it even-handedly turns the focus around to look at the female ego and societal double-standards. In fairness against it, though, it relies way too much on trying to repeat every superficially successful thing about Neighbors. Continue reading →