You might expect Neighbors 2 to be dumb. (It mostly is.) You might expect it to be funny. (Eh. Here and there.) But did you expect it to have lessons in feminism?
This sequel marks the return of of Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as young parents trying to live a moderately quiet life in their neighborhood. They've got another baby on the way and they're on the verge of selling their house. As long as nothing goes wrong within the 30-day escrow period, they'll be moving to a much nicer place.
So of course that's when trouble starts. In this case, it's a sorority moving in next door -- into the same house previously occupied by the fraternity that Zac Efron's character lived in last time.
I had no interest in the Greek system during my time at Texas Tech. I didn't even casually look into what it would be like to join a fraternity. But my GuideLive colleague and friend-with-horrible-taste-in-movies Sarah Blaskovich knows all about the mysterious Greek life that I avoided. So after we saw Neighbors 2 together, I had a lot of questions.
Britton: My college experience was, honestly, not that exciting. I didn't go to many parties at all, and certainly none that were hosted by an sort of Greek group. I wasn't in a fraternity and didn't have much luck hanging out with many women who were in sororities (or just women in general ... but that's a separate sad tale). Sarah, you were in a sorority, right?
How much of the sorority stuff in Neighbors 2 was accurate?
Sarah: I was in a sorority. In fact, I was the proud president of my sorority! I loved it in Neighbors 2 when Selena Gomez — the apparent president of her prissy gal group — informed potential new members that "sororities can't throw parties." To answer your question, Britton, she's right: In my experience with Greek life, sororities do not throw parties in their sorority houses. Those are beautiful mansions, safe places for college women to live. If you wanted to party, that's what fraternities were for.
A small part of me related to main character Shelby (Chloë Grace Moretz), who decided to start her own indie sorority, where they could throw their own parties and smoke weed and buck the system. But there’s no way that would actually work on or near any college campus.
Britton: Right? My wife asked me when we left the theater, "If it's so easy to just start a sorority like that one, why hasn't someone done it yet?" The boring answer is simply that it can't be that easy.
One thing I found interesting about the movie was that it got depressingly real about some of the dangers that young women might face at a "typical" frat party. Not just gross, rampant sexism and guys constantly trying to get girls upstairs, but also dark realities like spiked drinks. How did you feel about how the movie tackled those things? Were they accurate to a real college party experience?
Sarah: I do think there were a lot of really real topics this movie touched upon, though it didn't do a good job of solving them — or even of suggesting better options. Hooking up is a problem in college Greek life. So can be spiked drinks, drunk driving and sexism.
One of the realest topics in this movie, beyond sexism, was this depiction of “the old people.” In the movie, the young sorority women live next-door to new parents Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Byrne). There was definitely a day when I related more to a house full of strong-willed, occasionally drunk women. But today, hearing those women make fun of their mostly-nice neighbors, I’m the parent now. It kinda hurt my feelings.
It made me think: Ageism is not any better or worse than sexism. And now I feel old.
Britton: You are so old.
Sarah: So let's hear about what the guy who didn't party in college thought of a dumb, drunk comedy: Is this funny?
Britton: I'll say this for Neighbors 2: I didn't hate it. I laughed at times, and I appreciated what they were trying to do with some of the discussions about feminism. But when it came to the college antics? I felt even better about my own life choices.
In college I sometimes felt like a 60 year-old trapped in a 20 year-old's body. I wanted friends, I wanted to hang out with girls I was attracted to, and I wanted to experience whatever it was that made so many people call college "fun" (or even "the best years of your life"). But when Teddy (Efron) tries to zipline downstairs and ends up breaking a piece of furniture, all I can think is, "Well, that's money down the drain. Way to go, kid."
And that's how it's always been for me. I don't like dick jokes (I'm sorry, Teddy and Shelby, but throwing penises at your neighbors' window isn't funny, whether you're male or female), I don't think beer is all that magical and I'd rather have a nice dinner and board game night than spend my afternoon at a tailgate.
Then again, when Rogen's character was getting "attacked" by dozens of hot college girls in bikinis, all I could think is, "I wouldn't mind being in his shoes right now." So maybe I'm just as gross and immature as a typical college dude after all.
Sarah: Hey, we can't all be perfect.
Britton: Speaking of tailgates: Even as an adult you've gone to a bunch of those. Are they anything like the one in Neighbors 2? Can I just stroll into one and buy some weed off of some college girls raising money, Girl Scout cookie-style?
Sarah: Hah, absolutely not. I'm a semi-professional tailgater, and no, you cannot buy "pot pie" — marijuana covered in whipped cream, on a plate — at tailgates. Just as it would be ridiculous and near impossible to launch a sorority in the way these women did, that sorority's "tailgate" was nothing like the real thing either.
This movie was fun and mostly harmless. I'd even watch it again if it were on TBS and I didn't have anything better to do. But no one's going to see it as some kind of sociological commentary on how our world could change for the better. There were far too many jokes about sex toys for that.
Britton: I agree. And it's a shame, because for awhile there it seemed like they might be building up to some interesting discussions. Early on, Shelby implies/admits to her friends that she's still a virgin, despite her otherwise wild lifestyle. But then it's never brought up again. She just goes on to be a law-breaking, rebellious college freshman that happens to do everything except have sex. In which case, why even bring it up?
But I'm also with you in the sense that if it was on TV, I probably wouldn't turn it off. Unless young children are around. I don't want to have to explain the ball jokes to them.
