Seth Rogen's Bad Neighbours is vulgar but inventive

(MA)

3.5 stars

This comedy is no classic and with its crudeness won't be for all tastes, but it has some warmth and ideas beneath its showily vulgar surface. Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) are happy with their life and their newborn baby – but then a college fraternity moves into the house next door. At first, wanting to be cool, the couple politely ask its president, Teddy (Zac Efron) to keep the noise down but inevitably the late-night partying drives them to call the police. And then it's war. Who will triumph, the frat boys or the married couple?

Mac and Kelly seem as desperate to hold on to what's left of their youth as Teddy while the the frat's vice-president (Dave Franco) recognises the inevitability of growing up and moving on. It's this theme that helps give some substance to the movie, which is quite inventive in its escalating series of pranks and sabotage. If it's a little hard to believe the rest of the neighbourhood would never complain (despite the fraternity's good-deed program), it focuses the central conflict nicely and the actors all enter into the spirit of the proceedings with gusto. There are plenty of opportunities to view Efron shirtless, if that's an attraction.

There were no extra features on the preview disc.