NEIGHBORS Review

When their new neighbor moves in, the head of a rowdy fraternity played by Zac Efron, Seth Rogen's character says he looks like someone a gay man created in a lab. That's probably the most spot-on way Efron's sexual appeal has ever been described. Saying the young actor is the least funny thing on the screen is definitely no knock on him, due to the fact alone of him being surrounded by such comedic talent. He (and his body) get the job done just fine and actually adds a layer of curious energy to Nicholas Stoller's uproarious and raunchy "Neighbors."

Efron's best moments are with fraternity cohort played by Dave Franco, whose scenes together take the homoerotic undertones of fraternities to hilarious new heights. Seth Rogen finds his comedic match in Rose Byrne, who busts loose with her natural Aussie accent and delivers perfect deadpan timing. The cast of comedians that flow in and out of frame is dizzying, especially Ike Barinholtz of "The Mindy Project" and the welcome return of Lisa Kudrow, who basically reprises her guidance counselor from "Easy A."

When the fraternity moves in next door, Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Byrne) at first try to make nice with the guys, offering them weed but also trying to squeak in the phrase "keep it down." It doesn't work, and they're left being kept up until 4 a.m. tending to their adorable newborn who they can't get to sleep. When they make the mistake of calling the cops on the frat, Teddy (Efron) calls for an all-out war. The movie is loosely structured, freewheeling in its design and takes great creative liberties for a standard studio comedy. The rest of the script is us sitting back to watch as the attacks back and forth from family to frat ramp up in extravagance and absurdity. The party set pieces do every other college party movie proud and rave and flow with visual and aural excitement.

Among the gross-out sight gags, astonishing physical humor and plethora of jokes dedicated to one very specific body part, "Neighbors" packs in its biggest surprise in coming out as nonchalantly insightful about its characters. Efron, most notably, brings a dark soul to his fraternity leader, so that when the final takedown between him and Rogen happens, it becomes funnier because the stakes feel real. As Mac and Kelly see their lives turn a corner, the script rings true about what it means to earn responsibility, grow older and how aging doesn't always come exclusively with acting your age. The film is a big win for newcomer screenwriters Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien, and even with "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," "Get Him to the Greek" and "The Five-Year Engagement" under his belt, this is probably Stoller's funniest film to date.

THIS IS THE END Review

"This Is the End" is a comedy where we find Seth Rogen (Seth Rogen), Jay Baruchel (Jay Baruchel), Craig Robinson (Craig Robinson) and Jonah Hill (Jonah Hill) all hanging at James Franco's (James Franco) new digs in L.A. for a housewarming party. Rihanna is there, and so is Aziz Ansari, Jason Segal, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mindy Kaling, Emma Watson and a coked-out-of-his-mind Michael Cera. Then comes the end of the world as they know it. Yeah.

In its meta-filled nudges and self-pleasing schtick about actors playing parodied versions of themselves (the Academy Award-nominated Jonah Hill is faux pretentious and refers to himself as that actor from "Moneyball"), here's a comedy that is delirious, outrageous, wildly inspired and roll out of your chair in tears hilarious. It's the funniest movie since the original "Hangover" and likely to be the funniest movie of not only this year but perhaps a few years.

The script was penned by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who previously collaborated on "Pineapple Express" and "Superbad," the movie which kicked off most of this gang together. This marks their directorial debut as they take a one-joke movie and keep delivering and riffing on it with awesome comic timing. Once the four guys are holed up inside Franco's house, Danny McBride (Danny McBride) shows up and throws a wrench into their whole survival plan, eating all their food and drinking all their water. It's like an apocalyptic actor-starring "Real World," a pressure cooker of a situation where the main goal is to poke fun at these actors as much as possible.

You have to know these guys' stuff to be in on a lot of the jokes, of which these self-referential zings are the laugh-out-loud funniest. Take for example an entirely homemade sequel to "Pineapple Express" guest starring Woody Harrelson. But I've already said too much. You gotta see to believe how zany, nutty and balls-to-the-wall insane things get escalating to gut-busting proportions. In a raunchy mix of comedy and horror, Rogen and his team absolutely deliver the goods in a product that actually feels refreshingly independent aside from its major stars. It's smart about its stupidity and even squeezes in something to say about the status of celebrity and the nature of faith. And if you thought all those cameos at the start were something, just wait.

Archive: "Knocked Up" (2007)

The guy who brought us "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is back again, this time tackling pregnancy. Writer-director Judd Apatow is the master of comedy with his latest outing, "Knocked Up," a nearly flawless movie that even surpasses Apatow's previous work. With the same mix of sentimentality and raunchiness, we are given an era-defining comedy that is current, genuine, and downright hilarious. It's really something you have to see to believe. This is hands-down the best comedy of the year, and also one of the best movies of the year.

The premise is simple: A shlub hooks up with a successful woman in a bar, they have some drunken sex, the woman gets pregnant, and the shlub does the best he can to help out. This slacker is a guy named Ben (Seth Rogen) who is unemployed, sits around with his stoner buddies, smokes pot, and really has no intention of doing much else. The woman is a career-oriented beauty named Alison (Katherine Heigl) who just got a big promotion at her interviewing job at the E! studio. To celebrate, she goes to a bar and that's when the hook-up happens. Ben and Alison have their little fling, have an awkward conversation over breakfast the next morning, and never really hear from each other again. That is, until eight weeks later.

What's so darling is that these two are not right for each other in every sense. And yet, their growing relationship has a sincere sweetness to it that is undeniable. They are not romantic and are not living some planned-out life together, and you can see the ending to their story from the start, but every single scene getting there is worth it. A sex scene, for example, where Ben nearly faints because he can't stand the idea that his penis might be poking the baby in the face is gut-bustingly hilarious and ridiculous.

Seth Rogen--who acted alongside Steve Carell in "Virgin"--lights up the screen with his infectious down-to-earth demeanor. He cracks crude one-liners like they're nothing, and he's fresh, funny, good-spirited, and self-deprecating. Katherine Heigl from "Grey's Anatomy" is just as lovely here, bringing the same widespread emotions she presents on television. She's hormonal, enraged, and also sympathetic and kind. The two of these actors together makes for great chemistry.

Throughout the movie, we also get quality doses of Alison's married sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann), and her restless husband, Pete (Paul Rudd). Here are two other actors with spot-on comic timing. Their characters in the movie don't exactly provide something for Alison and Ben to necessarily look up to. Their marriage is, as Pete describes, an unfunny version of "Everybody Loves Raymond" that lasts forever, and it provides an example of the behavioral observation that Apatow uses as his comedic fodder. There are lengthy scenes of not only them, but also Ben and Alison, simply arguing with each other. It feels real and like actual arguments because neither side really wins; that's life. The F-word goes flying every other word, and it's totally acceptable because it's used tastefully even in excess. Apatow's trademark mix of the profane and the sentimental is what makes all of the characters, even all of Ben's slacker buddies, feel like real people.

So yeah, Judd Apatow really knows what's up. He knows how to make it feel real, current, and knows how to deliver the laughs. There are even numerous cameos including one from E!'s very own Ryan Seacrest, who dishes out a hysterical tyrant with words you thought you would never hear him say. Many other pop culture references are abound, too, including humorous references to "Spider-Man 3," and even a bash at "Lost"'s Matthew Fox where Ben says something about him we've all already been thinking.

There are boobs, there are the geeks who love the boobs, but there are also the owners of the boobs who have a cry together and try to get into clubs. And then there are the pregnancy tests, the gynecologists, the baby books, and, yes, even a crowning shot. It's all there and accounted for, and somehow ingeniously blended together into one perfect comedy gem. It's in this way that I guess you could call this a romantic comedy for both sexes. It's raunchy enough for the guys and also heartwarming enough for the ladies. But, that's like calling this just one great date movie, and that's not all what "Knocked Up" is. It's a comedy for everyone and a movie about life and the crap life can toss at us and how to deal with the crap and grow from it, and learn from it, and simply mature as adults the very best anybody can.

It's this stuff that makes "Knocked Up" such a breath of fresh air. It's a comedy with a big heart that's in the right place, and it always knows when to be profane and when to be sweet. Everything here is delivered with such sincerity and cheer that you can't help but smile and, of course, laugh your ass off the entire time. It is great fun, it made me happy, and I loved every minute of it.

Archive: "Superbad" (2007)

Thank goodness for guys like Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, and now director Greg Mottola. I don't know what the world of comedy would do without them as they keep dishing out one hilarious movie after another. Thanks to them, we have truly great comedies such as "Superbad," a raunchy riot of a teen sex comedy for the new generation. The movie's opening has the look and sound of something from the 70s, but as the movie begins, you immediately realize that it takes place in the present. The naughty one-liners are so quick and current that you may find yourself doubling back to something said and realize just how damn clever it was. This, along with the flawless formula of realistic dialogue and genuine characters makes "Superbad" another winner from a comedic tag team who's impossible to beat right now.

Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) have been best friends through all of high school primarily because they aren't cool enough for anybody else, but they are a perfect match for each other because they are equally uncool. Seth is loud-mouthed and chubby, and Evan is thin and unbelievably awkward. They also have a buddy named Fogell who is so uncool that he's a nerd even to them. Their senior year is only weeks away from being over, and they realize that it's either now or never to get laid. Evan tells Seth that everybody just has sex in college, but Seth reasons that they must have experience before then. The way he explains it, though, is about a hundred times more amusing. However preoccupied they are with this goal, the real problem facing them is that they each got into a different college and the resulting separation anxiety that comes along.

The movie follows the misadventures of these three friends throughout a 24-hour period. Everything that could go wrong pretty much does, and it all happens in the most ridiculous and unpredictable ways possible. One day at school, Seth is unexpectedly invited to a party by a girl he's had his eye on, and Evan decides he'll go, too, to impress the girl he likes. Fogell just got a fake ID as a 25-year-old Hawaiian organ donor simply named "McLovin." (This one thing is what the movie will forever be known for as it is already being quoted, and T-shirts with the phrase "I am McLovin" on them are probably already in production.) Thanks to Fogell's new ID, Seth is given the job of providing all the drinks for the party. From one trip to a liquor store, things start getting progressively more bizarre and outrageous. I admire the movie's ability to completely disregard an actual plot and yet still move along with one gut-busting one-liner right after another. Every incident collides with the other in a long string of non-stop laughs and giddiness.

The movie is also shockingly crude and foul-mouthed. But, why wouldn't it be? I mean, just look at the age bracket here. These horny teens aren't going to be talking about sex with any tasteful sophistication, that's for sure. Jonah Hill, who co-starred next to Seth Rogen in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," and Michael Cera, who is in "Arrested Development," are excellently casted and have conversations that feel exactly how they should. Every other word is a swear word or an insult, and mentions of nipples, pussies, and erections are abound. The movie's crude behavior comes with a hint of truth in being so frank about young male obsessions. Seth and Evan aren't looking for a relationship; they hear about girls getting drunk and sleeping with the wrong guy, and they want to be that guy.

Then there are the two cops, played by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader, who take Fogell under their wing as their best buddy after the incident at the liquor store. The two of them are no more mature than the high schoolers that fill the rest of the screen. Strangely enough, though, it's actually these scenes which drag in the movie; that's surprising to be coming from a character played by Seth Rogen. It's really the teen party scene that rules the show where even the two girls of interest, played by Emma Stone and Martha MacIsaac, are fun and quirky on their own. All of the younger characters have honest emotion and we laugh at them, with them, and ultimately care about them.

The movie is probably inspired by the lives of Seth Rogen and his co-writer Evan Goldberg, as they both named the main characters after themselves. Not only that, it could also very well be based on the life of any teenager you come across. Like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," which preceded this comedic gem from Mottola, there's a certain realism and sincerity to be found here. This one is the most absurd of the bunch with the situations the characters find themselves in, but the reactions are still as real as ever. The movie has the same likability thanks to a smart script and good actors. It's a dirty, R-rated teen comedy with a heart, and when it comes down to it, it's about looking to the future, moving on, and growing up. "Superbad" is super good.

Archive: 'Pineapple Express'

Movie Review
Pineapple Express (2008)


"Pineapple Express" may be the first stoner flick that you can still fully enjoy without having to be high. There's a smart level of humor here that an intoxicated person may otherwise miss. It's by no means nothing more than a druggie comedy, but it's an extremely well-made one, and one that'll make you laugh until your sides hurt. The reason behind the movie's success may come from it being directed by David Gordon Green, the least likely candidate who, before this, had directed small American indie movies such as "Snow Angels." He's used to dealing with the intricacies of human emotion. Here? Well, maybe a little.

Judd Apatow is officially a major force in Hollywood right now. His winning formula is still outrageous amounts of profanity and raunch while still holding a heart and being downright relatable. And with dopey but likable characters always on the forefront unleashing plenty of pop culture references, the line begins to blur between extreme stupidity and creative genius. Apatow has fueled his recent movies on barely having any plot at all and simply barreling down wherever his characters take him, and it has worked. This time, it's done quite literally as two seemingly harmless pot-smoking buddies accidentally get involved in a murderous crime. Apatow's recent comedies such as "Knocked Up" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" have been close to the category of romantic comedy. But, is this really so much different? A male buddy movie essentially does the same thing just with two guys bonding instead.

Imagine a stoned-out version of "Superbad," and you've essentially got the first half of "Pineapple Express." A process server named Dale (Seth Rogen) spends his days delivering a couple summonses but mostly sitting in his car smoking joints and visiting his high school girlfriend, Angie (Amber Heard). He's best friends with his drug dealer, Saul (James Franco), who sits in his apartment all day selling and smoking his merchandise. Dale stops by one day to buy some weed, and Saul introduces him to something he just recently got from his connection. It's called Pineapple Express, and he says it's so divine that smoking a joint of it is equivalent to killing a unicorn. After leaving Saul's, Dale goes to deliver a summons on a man named Ted Jones (Gary Cole) who actually turns out to be Saul's supplier.

Dale sits outside in his car to smoke one more joint and gets scared when a police car pulls up behind him. That turns out to be the least of his problems when he then witnesses firsthand a murder by the drug lord Ted and a crooked female cop (Rosie Perez). Still high, Dale flips out and speeds off. Unfortunately for him, he leaves his roach behind and after just one sniff Ted Jones can easily track down the murder witness because there's only one dealer in the area selling Pineapple Express. This marks Dale, Saul, and Saul's middleman connection, Red (Danny R. McBride), all for dead, and it puts them all on the run from a group of rather incompetent hitmen.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who co-wrote "Superbad," take Judd Apatow's stoner action farce vision and turn it into something that starts out ridiculous and only gets wilder from there. Dale and Saul find themselves in a forest, and then they lose their car and hitchhike their way to their buddy Red's house. Before arriving there, though, Dale shows up dirty, out-of-breath, and bleeding for a dinner with his girlfriend and her parents, which results in fleeing from her dad's rifle. Once at Red's, that's when the giddy over-the-top action starts to pick up, a first time for an Apatow feature. First comes a hilariously choreographed brawl in Red's house, followed later on by a police car chase that is the furthest thing from conventional as Saul drives at full-speed with his foot through a slushee-covered windshield.

It all ramps up to an all-out gang war between Ted's group of men and another group solely referred to as "the Asians." It's a hilarious shootout where the likes of Gary Cole and Rosie Perez are totally serious about the situation while Rogen and Franco are cruising along in a haze like it's just another inconvenience in their already hectic day. There's a clever nod to 70s and 80s action movies throughout this portion with plenty of subtle humor running beneath the apparent crude gags. Cinematographer Tim Orr makes this and the rest of the movie all look so good, too, by composing some surprisingly artful shots. That is, if you want to pay attention to that sort of thing, although, considering all else that goes on, it's not necessary.

The casting of James Franco, who's known mostly as the handsome guy from the "Spider-Man" series, is inspired as he proudly dons long, greasy hair and pajama pants as a reckless and carefree stoner pal. And Seth Rogen pulls off the action hero role perfectly, as unexpected as that is. Together they are comedic dynamite and give off the vibe of a believable bond. They're not gay, but they sometimes sure act like it, and the movie has fun poking at that possibility. McBride has fun, too, especially during a hysterical end scene in a diner where the three friends spend time reminiscing about the events of the day. There's a bit of Tarantino hiding within Pineapple Express from the "Pulp Fiction"-esque dialogue to the humorous spurts of violence and gore. There's something to it.

A Man Dying Of Laughter

Funny People


Although his name has been associated with many other great and not-so-great comedies, "Funny People" is the third film to be written and directed by Judd Apatow. Keep in mind, though, that this latest feature of his is certainly no "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" or "Knocked Up." He has departed from that adolescent raunchiness and has delved into the realm of something more dramatic. This is Apatow's most mature work yet, a very personal movie for him where he presents his own perspective on mortality, fame, life choices, and how comedy intersperses with it all. The real kicker is that underneath the surface of the ones who are meant to make us laugh there is anguish and bitterness, which is exactly what Apatow sets out to explore in this movie.

Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) is a struggling comedian who writes some good material for his stand-up act, and one night gets noticed by George Simmons (Adam Sandler), a comedian superstar. The star insists that Ira become his personal assistant and start writing material for him. And then George starts confiding in Ira, letting him on the inside, having him talk him to sleep, and then reveals to him that he only has a short time left to live. Seth Rogen, although Apatow won't openly admit it, is basically playing a young version of the director in the early days of his career. He plays Ira with sincere subtlety, and with a newly slimmed-down look (which the movie cleverly pokes fun at), he presents new dimensions we've yet to see him display.

And yet under the prowess of Adam Sandler, Rogen seems like a lost puppy. It is Sandler who steals the show proving yet again there's more to his acting with nuanced work that ranks among his oddball persona from "Punch-Drunk Love." As George, he taps into the anger and resentment that lies within him and brings it to the forefront with great results. George represents the burdens of the celebrity world as he accepts why he had to remove himself from other people. He has private jets, all the women he can get, a massive house, and an exuberant amount of material possessions, and yet he's isolated from everyone; the friends he has don't treat him like a real person. He's not only forced to struggle with his illness but also with the hermetically-sealed world of fame along with the illness. This is Sandler's best performance to date.

The movie provides an insider glimpse into the world of comedians and how they think and work. When they pitch ideas to one another, they never laugh at the jokes but rather just respond with, "That's funny." The stand-up sequences are really the core of the movie as Apatow shows us what's bad, what works, and what kind of material has potential. The unique thing about the humor in this movie is that we're laughing at things funny people are saying who already know that it's funny, and in that respect, the movie is overtly self-aware. It also slyly satirizes TV shows and formula comedies as Ira's roommates, Leo (Jonah Hill) and Mark (Jason Schwartzman, who also did the music), are both in a painfully bad sitcom called "Yo, Teach." Hill and Schwartzman play the competitive friends role perfectly. George's house is also filled with posters of his past movies such as "Mer-Man" and "My Best Friend is a Robot," in which George supposedly co-starred with Elizabeth Banks and Owen Wilson, respectively. There's also a moment where George discusses his shallow relationship with fellow celebrities, which leads to a hilarious sequence with Eminem and Ray Romano. As is the trademark with Apatow, the humor remains refreshingly current, and this time around, there are an impressive number of cameos, too.

But then comes the film's biggest drawback, and that's the girl who got away from George, Laura (Leslie Mann, as sweet as ever). An unnecessarily large portion of the second half of the movie spends time focusing on George's attempts at getting her back into his life. The problem is that she has a brute of an Aussie husband (Eric Bana showing some comedic flair) and a family of two daughters (adorably played by Apatow's real-life children). Here the movie drags and feels overlong, which emphasizes other portions of the movie that could've been trimmed. 146 minutes is a lot, especially for a comedy, and it gives the feel of something that is unfinished and unpolished. Although the length prevents things from ever getting formulaic, it also tends to ramble. As Apatow takes the risk of sending his work into a new direction, it definitely gets shaky and uneven at times. As much as the movie is about the maturation of Ira and George, it really is, at the heart of it all, about the maturation of Apatow as an affirmed talent.

Seth Rogen Means Business

Observe and Report:
2 ½ out of 4

There are no likable characters in "Observe and Report." Not even the hero of the movie, Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen), is likable. You can't root for him, but you can easily follow him around and watch to see what unpredictably brash thing he'll do next. He's a loose cannon and a man caught up in his own delusions. It's a brave performance for Seth Rogen as, even with this film, he's yet to choose a character he can't make his own. This certainly isn't the usual curly-headed, lovable teddy bear we've come to know. With freshly shaved-down hair, Rogen makes Ronnie out to be a much deeper and scarier character than could've been perceived. Ronnie is the head of security at Forest Ridge Mall who has a dream to one day become a real police officer who gets to carry a gun. The problem is he has bipolar disorder, and he's simmering at a boil and ready to spillover at any moment. His character has shades of Travis Bickler from "Taxi Driver," and it's no coincidence. There are subtle similarities here and yet this movie's labeled as a comedy. It's the most twisted, daring, sick, cynical, and darkest comedy we'll probably see released from a major studio this year.

Director Jody Hill, who directed last year's low-budget comedy "The Foot Fist Way," establishes a distinct tone to the whole ordeal, one that is oddly sad. It's like watching a horrific car accident unfold right before your eyes; it's sometimes hard to watch and yet you can never turn away. All of the actors supporting Rogen play their rather eccentric characters right on the brink of farce without ever crossing into that territory. They play out the absurdities of their characters without ever hinting at the fact that they're trying to be funny, which makes it even funnier in the most interesting and confusingly affecting way. Consider Anna Faris, who plays Brandi, the ditz blonde who works the makeup counter in the mall's department store. She plays Brandi as a purely shallow bitch, nothing more, and she's all the more hilarious for it. Celia Weston plays Ronnie's mother who is always in a drunken stupor with a satirical seriousness, and there's even a brief appearance of Hill's co-conspirator, Danny R. McBride, as a corner crack dealer.

When a crude flasher (Randy Gambill) runs amok in the mall and presents his dangling goods to Brandi, Ronnie takes it upon himself to protect the mall from this menace. What pisses Ronnie off the most is the fact that Brandi has been put in danger. He has lusty feelings for her and drags her to go out on a date with him, a date that ends in the most unsavory of ways. Hill pushes the limits way too far, but in the context of this movie, the disturbing aspect of it all fits right in. Enter hard-ass Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) who takes over the investigation of the flasher and openly mocks Ronnie. Big mistake. Ronnie's frightening delusions come directly to the forefront. He's assisted by his right-hand man, Dennis (Michael Peña), who is crazy weird, along with a reluctant recruit and a pair of Asian twins, which allows one of them to be totally expendable. And Ronnie never ceases from getting his free cup of coffee from a friendly barista (Collette Wolfe) who, completely unknowing to the self-absorbed Ronnie, has a crush on him. Her leg is broken, and she gets harassed by her cruel manager, and once Ronnie gets light of that, it first initiates his dangerous behavior.

Jody Hill doesn't shy away from filling "Observe and Report" with moments of unpleasantness. The 86-minute romp culminates into a shocking eruption of violence after a chase scene involving Ronnie and the flasher throughout the mall. Here's a movie so off-kilter that this surprisingly graphic ending is arguably the movie's funniest moment. Strange how that works.