Movie Review: Bad Neighbours 2 (MA15+)

Movie Review: Bad Neighbours 2 (MA15+) Rating: 8/10

If typical American college movies are your interest, then Bad Neighbours 2 is likely to meet most of your expectations.

If you’re anything like me though, you’ll be happy to sit through pretty much anything to catch a few glimpses of a shirtless Zac Efron, dancing on stage covered in oily barbecue juice.

Much like its preceding instalment, Bad Neighbours 2 predictably revolves around college kids and their “right to party” but this time takes a surprising feminist turn.

In a bid to avoid distasteful frat parties and the boundaries encoded by pre-existing sororities, an optimistic bunch of female first-years take a gamble on starting an edgy sorority of their own.

It isn’t long until tensions rise between neighbours, Kelly and Mac (Rose Byrne and Seth Rogan) and the new kids on the block, led by Shelby (Chloe Moretz).

Inevitably, both set out to sabotage the other and to ultimately force each other out of their home.

Fraternity veteran, Teddy (Zac Efron), who is experiencing a “quarter life crisis” becomes the key to solving the neighbourhood warfare, but soon realises the intelligence of the sorority girls is slightly higher than he expected.

The movie is powerful in its portrayal of female characters with the main sorority girls confidently and shamelessly battling to claim victory, despite being notably worse off in comparison to their opposition.

Given that women were overly sexualised and essentially redundant in the first movie, this turn around was a welcome surprise and a good attempt at challenging typical gender roles.

An abundant flow of hilarious gags made this movie an easy and enjoyable one to watch.

And while unnecessary overuse of bad language and obvious line improvisation was a constant theme throughout, overall I thought it was a well-rounded comedy.