They're Baaaaaaaack..."Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising"

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)  

Rated R

Starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloe Grace Moretz,

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

The Story:

Mac and Kelly (Rogen & Byrne) are moving out of the neighborhood and into a new house. They just need to wait 30 days for their current house to close.  And that's when Shelby (Moretz) rents the place next door. She starts her own sorority where the girls are allowed to party and have fun. And if you're going to start a sorority and throw a party, who better to have as your consultant than Teddy (Efron), the guy who made life miserable for Mac and Kelly a few years earlier?

If you watched and enjoyed the first Neighbors film 2 years ago, you pretty much know what to expect this go round.

It pretty much stays right on path with parents against college students, until decisions are made that cause Teddy to switch allegiances.

It's not high art, but the artists will get high.

A lot.

That's what they do.

This is Seth Rogen after all.

:)

However, his chemistry with Efron is fun to enjoy, and if you had a good time with the original, you're likely to have as good of a time this go round as well.

I found it to be just about as good as the first one, with a new mix of old and new cast members and a satisfying conclusion to the story.

Will there be a 3rd movie?

There shouldn't be, but if they do, or if Efron and Rogen team up again in something else, I'll swing by and check it out.

Final Grade: C+

The Odd Couple... "Dirty Grandpa"

Dirty Grandpa (2016)

Rated R

Starring Zac Efron, Robert DeNiro, Zoey Deutch, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Mantzoukas, Julianne Hough,

Directed by Dan Mazer

The Story:

Dick (DeNiro) is in mourning after his wife has passed. He guilts his favorite grandson, Jason (Efron) into taking him on a road trip to Florida to spread the ashes. Ah, but what Jason will soon come to realize, is that Grandpa is itching to use his newfound freedom to get busy with the ladies in Florida. Lenore (Plaza) is willing, and her best friend Shadia (Deutch) just happens to be an ex-classmate of Jason's. The biggest problem, Jason has life-plans that don't include helping his grandpa get laid.

So, going with that explanation and the title of the film, you know what to expect going into this one.

If you dare to enter!

What you'll find is people moaning and lamenting the decline of DeNiro as a serious actor.

Bah.

What you'll find is DeNiro doing his job as an actor in a part that was probably made for him. The man has got to work, and unless they're lining up GoodFellas, Raging Bulls or the like demanding that DeNiro be in their films, well, sorry, clearly he enjoys working and his legacy on film is secure enough that he can pretty much do whatever he wants to do at this point in his career.

Sure, we can always hope the film will be worthy of more artistic merit, but don't begrudge DeNiro a living.

Whatever work he does now, whether in comedies or direct to DVD fare, doesn't diminish what he's done before.

So too with Efron, as he continues to stay as far away from his Disney Channel roots as possible. As the uptight grandson, he doesn't get to be the party-boy like his character in Neighbors, but like DeNiro, he's willing to put his all into the project, even if it means being the butt of most of the jokes.

That said, as the title implies it's filthy, with language and situations flying a mile a minute for the "shock and awe" factor but there's enough actual comedy to make this one worth a viewing.

If for no other reason than Jason Mantzoukas who is quickly becoming one of my favorite supporting actors. Whenever he shows up in a film, the scenes he appears in are of such manic energy, they begin to support the entire film and make everything just a little bit better.

If you're going to go for raunchy humor, while you can do better, you can almost definitely do a lot worse than this one.

Final Grade: C+