Neighbors
Short description
Mac Radner and his wife Kelly have just become parents and bought a house in a quiet suburban neighborhood, where they hope to settle into family life. Their plans change when a college fraternity moves in next door. Led by its confident president Teddy Sanders, the students turn the property into a base for loud parties that disrupt the couple's home. Mac and Kelly first try to get along with the newcomers, but the noise and the growing friction push both sides into an escalating dispute in which each tries to drive the other out.
Nicholas Stoller directed the film, working from a screenplay by Brendan O'Brien and Andrew J. Cohen. It was Stoller's fourth feature, arriving after Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek and The Five-Year Engagement. Seth Rogen plays Mac and also produced alongside Evan Goldberg and James Weaver; Rose Byrne plays Kelly, and Zac Efron plays Teddy. Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jerrod Carmichael appear among the fraternity members and neighbors.
Made for a budget of 18 million dollars, the film took about 271 million dollars worldwide, a strong return for a comedy of its size. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from roughly 345,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.2 out of 10 from more than 7,400 votes. A critics' rating of 6.4 out of 10 from 221 reviews places professional reception close to the audience scores. A sequel followed, with Stoller returning to direct.
What's left behind the scenes
- The initiation rite that the students undergo to join the fraternity is a real rite of the "Sigma Nu" fraternity.
- The final scene between Mac and Teddy at the "Abercrombie and Fitch" store was completely improvised. Zac Efron had no idea Seth Rogen would take his shirt off.
- Initially, the plot of the film was supposed to tell the story of Mac and his friends clashing with a fraternity, but after Seth Rogen's wife read the script, she said his friends wouldn't care about a war with a fraternity and advised him to write his wife into the script instead.
- According to the actors and director of the film, the twins Elize Vargas and Zoya Vargas, who played the role of Stella, behaved surprisingly well, constantly smiled, and were in good spirits. The only time one of the girls cried was during the filming of a scene where Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne were yelling at each other.
- Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally (who are married in real life) played a cameo role as Christopher Mintz-Plasse's parents, but the scene featuring them was ultimately cut from the film.
- All the actors agreed to a significant pay cut to help save money for the film's budget.
- Zac Efron broke his arm during the filming of a fight scene with Dave Franco. The screenwriters and producers panicked and began planning how the broken arm would fit into the plot and how much it would affect the film's budget. However, they were surprised to learn that, after an emergency operation, Efron would be able to return to the set the very next day.
- In Australia and the United Kingdom, the film was released under the title "Bad Neighbours" to avoid confusion with the television series "Neighbours" (1985). A video of Seth Rogen singing the theme song from the show was even posted on the official Universal studio Facebook page.
- On August 26, 2013, the original title of the film – "Townies" – was changed to "Neighbors."
- On the day Dave Franco was scheduled to film a love scene, he got a spot on his butt and had to ask the makeup artist to cover it with makeup.
- The fraternity house number 2202 can be seen on the sidewalk. And when the police officer calls for backup, he states the number 2203.
- The scene with the child turning around to look at Mac and Kelly having sex was filmed by accident. Initially, the scene was supposed to end when Mac flipped Kelly over, but the director noticed the child's curiosity and instructed one of the operators to film him at that moment. According to the director, if you listen carefully, you can hear Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne laughing in the background when the child turns to look at them.
- During the conversation between Kelly and Mac, as their new neighbors move in, people in the background appear and disappear.
- All the actors and the crew became so attached to the twins who played Stella that on the last day of filming, they all came to say goodbye to them.
- The film recouped its production budget on its first day of release in the US.
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