Mac & Kelly have just had a baby. They are discovering the “joys” of parenthood until Teddy, his siblings and all the annoyances of big teufs day-to-day move into the house next to it.
Or the beginning of a war of neighbors, or all the cheap shots are possible…
OUR WORST NEIGHBOURS we present first the couple Seth Rogen / Rose Byrne by using all the cliches that one may have of parenting.
As I am a two time dad, I am obviously recognized in this conflict between the aggressive change in the situation (responsibilities x1000, youth completed…), and those who have no empathy for it (the other, YOUNG people.).
Of course, these little things that make up the daily life of a young parent are exaggerated, but indeed, go through humor is used to bring back the horror of those moments for something really trivial (the moments happy as a family, are very scarcely present in the film).
And then comes the siblings in the house next door, and his world where superficiality and decadence are the masters, portrayed in the film, with a mixture of exaggeration and rigorous ethnography.
A fascinating universe, which, beyond the clichés conveyed by the College Movies, show us something new, like the introduction/presentation of the mode of life and rules to follow, or the relationship a little life to the death between the members of the family.
”Under the guise of farce without subtlety, OUR WORST NEIGHBORS try to talk to us about the fear of entering the adult age, the fear of responsibilities. One of the best comedies of the year.”
The film we speak of the encounter between these two worlds, a cultural shock, and a material rich cinematic.
The couple Seth Rogen / Rose Byrne, assisted by others in their thirties, cobble together plans completely improbable and unworthy of parents respectable, while Efron and his family offer a big party each time more impressive than that of the previous day; everyone is looking for as much fun as pissing off the other. It grows up to become an outright reason to live.
Everything is history of confrontation : the intimate to the immense, the valves Rogen against the body of apollo of Efron, aggressive, vicious, opposed to the fiery beast of youth.
The humor is hit in two forms of opposite but complementary :
– Front-end, by the many of the gags are purely visual film (the airbags, the dildo fight, the stage of the breast milk, the dance off…)
– More subtly, through the description, the opposition and then the mixture of the two ways of life.
The pace of the film follows this pattern repeatedly : contrast between scenes of banal everyday life a little overkill to get the comic effect and teufs, more spectacular than ever, and then mixing the two worlds to build a new base of contention, and so on…
The actors, always in the interests of duality, do not hesitate to call the ridiculous, just for the pleasure of the viewer, as much as they seek subtly to thicken up the psychological profile of their characters.
Efron, if he is not trying to break his image of apollo ultimate (not what’s with all these forward slashes!), composed with more nuance than one might think a character aware of its superficiality, but wishing to obtain immortality through the memories we keep of his youth decadent . Seth Rogen, he creates a character (realistic enough) of the guy who was cool but who fear that they will not be.
The two characters who have in common the fear of losing their youth.
Thus, the French title is misleading. Not good or bad neighbours, the two parties act according to their own motivations, and have a goal finally common : feeding a conflict that helps keep the youth that, inexorably, will eventually disappear.
In the end, OUR WORST NEIGHBORS contains the codes of the american comedies of recent draws as much from the films of Judd Apatow as TED, and then, more generally, Simpson, in his way to mix the daily commuter, banal references to pop culture, and the comic situations of apocalyptic typical of the cinema.
Under the guise of farce without subtlety, the film by Nicholas Stoller tries to talk to us about the fear of entering the adult age, the fear of responsibilities. In the end, one of the best comedies of the year.
• Achievement : Nicholas Stoller
• Screenplay :Andrew J. Cohen, Brendan O’brien
• Main actors : Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Lisa Kudrow
• Country of origin : U. S. A.
• Output : 06 August 2014
• Duration : 1h37mn
• Distributor : Universal Pictures International France
• Synopsis : Mac & Kelly just had a baby. They discover the joys of parenthood until Teddy, his siblings and all the annoyances of big teufs day-to-day move into the house next.
Or the beginning of a war of neighbors, or all the cheap shots are possible…