Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising: A Review

By Darlene Donloe

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, in theaters May 20, is one of the funniest movies of the year!

The entire premise of the movie is to stop a bunch of young women from having fun!

Just like the original, 2014 Neighbors, this Seth Rogen follow up plays it strictly for laughs. This time around Rogen plays Mac Radner, a man whose family is at its wits end trying to sell their home. They have bought a new, bigger home and are expecting their second baby. Just when Mac and his wife, Kelly, played quite aptly by Rose Byrne, have a prospective buyer, Kappa Nu, a rowdy sorority, moves in next door.  And the ladies, who have been told that sororities are not allowed to have their own parties, are about to show they can party just as hard as the boys.  They also want to assert their womanhood by proving they are more than just sexual objects. And, that could be a problem since the buyers are looking to move into a nice, quiet neighborhood.

The Radners must somehow convince the sorority sisters who inhabit the house to hold down the naughty, raucous behavior – just long enough for the new buyers to sign on the dotted line.

Of course, that doesn’t happen. That would be too easy. 

Instead, the sorority, lead by Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz), digs in its heels and causes all kinds of mayhem.

There are some hilarious comedic performances from Rogen, Zac Efron, Moretz and especially Rose Byrne, whose deadpan, stoic delivery is brilliant.

Efron plays, Teddy, a man who doesn’t know when the party is over and it’s time to go home. He’s a man in his 20’s who is still hanging around campus and even agrees to be an adviser to the sorority house.  It all rings quite pathetic.   His best friend, Pete (Dave Franco) is now openly gay and about to get married to another man. It would seem his Delta Psi brothers have grown up without him.

Kelsey Grammer plays Moretz’s father, while Billy Eichner delivers a balanced and funny performance as a real estate agent.

The script, which is rich with boner and weed jokes, touches upon some robust subject matters notably the notion of good and bad parenting. There are some poignant moments within this sometimes coarse comedy.

As sequels go, some movies should never do the honors. However, this sequel is a welcomed and rather pleasant surprise.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (Universal), directed by Nichollas Stoller, stars, Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ike Barinholtz, Kiersey Clemons, Beanie Feldstein, Carla Gallo, Dave Franco, Liz Cackowski, Billy Eichner, Selena Gomez, Kelsey Grammer, Lisa Kudrow, Sam Richardson, Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Hannibal Buress, Brian Husky, Awkwafina, Elise Vargas, Zoey Vargas.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising is Rated R (for crude sexual content including brief graphic nudity, language throughout, drug use and teen partying). Running time: 92 mins.

On the DONLOE SCALE:  D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likeable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), Neighbors2: Sorority Rising gets an O (oh, yeah).