‘Bad Neighbours 2’ is another totally unnecessary sequel to a good original comedy that tries to live up to its predecessor but ultimately can’t quite get there. The main cast from the first film do mostly return and thank god they did, because the additions to the cast that include Chloe Grace Moretz, Kiersey Clemons, Beanie Feldstein and the rest of the sorority don’t add much to the film either in terms of humour or good performances. The plot that plays out is largely a cookie-cutter from other films in the same genre and doesn’t do anything to draw you in beyond just watching for the comedy. But i really appreciate how they ended the film, bit of a different direction than i thought they’d take and that’s good…. Credit where credit is due. But there is a decent amount of comedy throughout the film and most of it works quite well. Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, and Ike Barinholtz contribute to most of it and their interactions were the highlights of the film.

As i mentioned, there is a decent amount of laughs in here to get you through this film ok, there are a few rough patches here and there where the comedy didn’t hit as well, most of which is in the first third of the film but overall i enjoyed the comedy in this film. Seth Rogen’s style of comedy is a little on or off for me where one film it works, the next it’s annoying, and then suddenly i’m laughing again, and for this film it definitely worked well. His dynamic with Rose Byrne is fantastic and their back and forth relationship was one of the funniest aspects consistently throughout the film. Zac Efron was also very funny in a lot of scenes and his chemistry with Rogen and Byrne was just as good as it was in the first film, definitely another highlight. Ike Barinholtz was very average overall, he had some very effective comedic moments, but also a quite a few where it looked like he was trying a little too hard. Chloe Grace Moretz i didn’t feel really brought any humour to her role, it felt like she was always reaching for jokes but nothing really stuck. With her being the big new addition to the film, she needed to stand out in order to elevate it, but unfortunately she kinda held it down (Sorry Dinh).

The plot wasn’t bad to the point where you just want to leave, but it wasn’t anything that made you want to stay. But, admittedly, there wasn’t really much you could do with the premise and characters introduced by the first film. That film made bank, and that alone warranted a sequel, so they threw together a rewrite of the first film’s script, replaced the jokes with some new ones and this is what we get…… another ‘ok’ comedy.

So in the end, if you got a good kick out of the first film then you will definitely find things to enjoy in this film, if you are a fan of Seth Rogen’s humour then you have that to look forward to. And if you are a fan of shirtless Zac Efron, then you may be pleased to note that he spends over half of his scenes shirtless….. i wasn’t counting.

5.6/10