Neighbors
Universal Pictures | Release Date: May 9, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TheWrapInkoo KangMay 8, 2014
What makes Neighbors exceptional, rather than merely great, is its successful attempt to reinvent the studio comedy. Read full review
100
HitfixDrew McWeenyApr 18, 2014
Not only is it uproariously funny and almost breathtakingly dirty, it is better written than it needs to be on a character level, delivering completely on its premise. Read full review
91
The PlaylistDrew TaylorMar 9, 2014
Neighbors is one of the funniest, most visually inventive studio comedies in recent memory. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonMay 6, 2014
Nicholas Stoller's hilarious Neighbors splashes into summer with the satisfying swish-plop-hooray of a winning beer pong serve. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMay 8, 2014
It’s a party where we want to stay, until we’re dragged out kicking and screaming. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 8, 2014
There's a subtle wisdom to this screenplay that complements its exceedingly bad taste, small lessons among the laughs. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMay 7, 2014
Speaking in her native Aussie twang, Byrne shows that she's a deadpan comic ace. And thanks to her chemistry with Rogen, Neighbors proves that just because you grow up doesn't mean you have to be a grown-up. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 8, 2014
This raunchy unrooting of a settled suburban idyll exposes the considerable angst of emerging adulthood with a kind of scatological fervor designed to elicit oodles of inappropriate laughs. It succeeds. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensMay 8, 2014
Byrne, who played a tightly wound control freak to perfection in "Bridesmaids," here gets a chance to bust loose. In a late sequence where she frantically spearheads a multipart mission to bring down Delta Psi from the inside, Byrne makes you wish someone would write a big, broad, raunchy comedy just for her. Read full review
80
CineVueAmon WarmannMay 8, 2014
The fraternity versus parents premise is a decidedly simple one, but the surprising amount of depth to the characters helps mine it for all its worth. Read full review
80
Film.comJordan HoffmanMay 6, 2014
You’ll laugh if you’re young, you’ll laugh if you’re old. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt GlasbyMay 5, 2014
A heated, hysterical battle between Apatow smarts and Animal House smirks. Subtlety takes a hazing, but humour emerges with honours. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonAshley ClarkApr 29, 2014
After a shaky start, Bad Neighbours blossoms, with inspired visual gags in excellent poor taste. Read full review
80
The GuardianAndrew PulverMar 10, 2014
In its current state, Neighbors is filthy, nasty and a bit too sloppy. But it’ll scrub up lovely. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 10, 2014
Very funny at the outset and escalating steadily for most of its brisk running time, the film represents a big win for neophyte screenwriters Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandMay 9, 2014
The result is a funny and raucously lewd comedy fueled with enough penis jokes to keep an actual fraternity in stitches for a trimester. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 9, 2014
Too many comedies have become routine and predictable - qualities that don't enhance the potential for good laughs. Neighbors retains sufficient spontaneity to give it a fresh, lively feel. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigMay 8, 2014
Neighbors is the "Animal House" for an era in which food fights seem quaint. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 8, 2014
Neighbors is funny for all 96 of its minutes, not counting the credits, and it contains the single best sight gag of the year so far. (We're talking laugh-out-loud funny and then laugh again later, just thinking about it.) Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 8, 2014
About 40 percent of Neighbors falls flat. About 60 percent made me laugh hard, even when I knew I should have known better. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 8, 2014
You expect hardcore hilarity from Neighbors, and you get it. It's the nuance that sneaks up on you. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 8, 2014
The crassly funny, not entirely irrelevant comedy Neighbors represents something of a watershed: the moment when all those Judd Apatow bad boys tremble on the edge of maturity, look back, and see the soulless face of a younger generation gaining on them. The face belongs to Zac Efron. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMay 8, 2014
Efron makes you believe he’s capable of anything. Neighbors is rude, brazen and merrily offensive, and the movie mines the homoerotic undertones of fraternities to fine (if lowbrow) comic effect. But Efron, of all people, gives the film a curious edge. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 8, 2014
One part smart, one part stupid and three parts jokes about body parts, the extremely raunchy Neighbors is a strange success story. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 8, 2014
That very unknowability, which hampered so many Efron performances in the past, turns out to be his most humanizing trait, and Neighbors’ secret weapon. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 8, 2014
Neighbors is not the classic raunchy comedy it wants to be, but it certainly isn't for lack of trying. And when it's funny, it's really funny. Just not as often as one might hope. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 8, 2014
Neighbors is not a great film and does not really aspire to be. It is more a status report on mainstream American movie comedy, operating in a sweet spot between the friendly and the nasty, and not straining to be daring, obnoxious or even especially original. It knows how to have fun. How very grown-up. Read full review
70
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiMay 6, 2014
While it’s occasionally distasteful, it’s an engaging hangout film from beginning to end, thanks to its game performances and smart direction. Read full review
70
VarietyAndrew BarkerMar 10, 2014
Lewder, weirder, louder, leaner, meaner and more winningly stupid than anything its director Nicholas Stoller and star Seth Rogen have ever been involved with before, frat comedy Neighbors boasts an almost oppressive volume of outrageous gags. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 7, 2014
Trouble is, Neighbors rarely exploits its generational war of attrition for big laughs or true insight. And despite a couple of puerile gags, it often feels as domesticated (and fatigued) as its main characters. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMay 9, 2014
Rogen’s always a dominating presence, but the doll-like Australian actress, who showed her comic chops in "Bridesmaids," comes close to stealing the movie here, in an uncorked performance full of volatile, liberating mischief. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaMay 9, 2014
No one holds the screen like Mac and Kelly’s big-eyed darling of a daughter, played by twins Elise and Zoey Vargas. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMay 7, 2014
The fun is supposed to build from the elaborate plots the marrieds and the bros engage in to foil each other. Only, it doesn’t. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 9, 2014
Can it be considered a comic masterpiece on the same level as "Animal House," that mother of frat-house comedies? Not by a long shot. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsMay 5, 2014
A few big laughs but weakly drawn characters mean a film that is enjoyable enough in the moment but then quickly forgotten. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 3, 2014
Genres don’t come much more formulaic than frat-house comedy, and nobody, in this fair-to-fine example, feels like rocking the boat. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 9, 2014
It’s gross, all right, but rarely funny – unless jokes about alcohol-laced breast milk is your thing. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissMay 8, 2014
Tries anything for a gross-out laugh — but feels oh-so-familiar Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirMay 8, 2014
Just a string of ludicrous excuses to get from one outrageous comedy set-piece to the next. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 8, 2014
A shaggy, baggy collegiate comedy that is less a coherent movie than a loosely assembled series of lewd jokes and punishing slapstick routines. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithMay 8, 2014
A central problem: Efron isn’t funny. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEric HendersonMay 7, 2014
The promo materials implore viewers to vote either #TeamFrat or #TeamFamily on Twitter, though the audience is way more likely to be split between #TeamPecEfron and #TeamByrneBoobsplosion. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMay 9, 2014
Neighbors makes "Animal House" look like "Remembrances of Things Past." Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMay 7, 2014
Amusing enough, but weirdly joyless. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMay 8, 2014
Neighbors stakes its claim in suburban-property cliches. Given the dull, stale results, maybe the end of the world was a better fit. Read full review
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