"Neighbors" is a loopy dark comedy, based on a novel by Thomas Berger. Although the screenplay is credited to Larry Gelbart, it was actually heavily re-written, and was a very troubled shoot. It stars 'Saturday Night Live' funnymen John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, in a classic case of role reversal. Here, Belushi is the straight man and Aykroyd the zany one. Belushi plays Earl Keese, a mild middle class individual living at the end of a suburban street. One night, the neighbors move in: pushy, obnoxious Vic (Aykroyd), and his extremely seductive wife Ramona (Cathy Moriarty, then hot off her memorable turn in "Raging Bull"). They introduce an element of excitement into Earls' mundane existence.In this viewers' own humble opinion, this wasn't a particularly funny movie. Moments of real wit and cleverness are not that frequent. Director John G. Avildsen ("Rocky", "The Karate Kid") just doesn't seem to have a feel for this sort of material. Occasionally, "Neighbors" is amusing, but the main thing that it has going for it are some deft performances. Aykroyd clearly has fun in his part, and Belushi shows a different side to his comedic talent by doing an impressive job here. Moriarty is devilishly entertaining. Kathryn Walker ("Slap Shot") is fine as Earls' wife, as is Lauren-Marie Taylor ("Friday the 13th Part 2") as his free-spirited daughter. There are also a few appearances by Belushi and Aykroyds' fellow 'SNL' alum Tim Kazurinsky.To be fair, there are some good lines, such as the one that motivates Earl to open his cellar door. I thought the scenes with Belushi and Moriarty were among the better ones. Bill Conti supplies a deliberately goofy music score.It's also rather sad watching this, knowing this was Belushis' last film.Five out of 10.

This movie is nothing more than a tedious sequence of poorly conceived juvenile "humor". Worst commercial film I have ever suffered through. Love just about everything else from Belushi and Aykroyd. There really is nothing else worth saying about this "film", but apparently ten lines of verbiage is required. There really is nothing else worth saying about this "film", but apparently ten lines of verbiage is required. There really is nothing else worth saying about this "film", but apparently ten lines of verbiage is required. There really is nothing else worth saying about this "film", but apparently ten lines of verbiage is required.

Neighbors The irony of neighbours is that you often kill them with the same tool you borrowed from them.However, the aggravated neighbour in this dark comedy is liable to use his bare-hands.Despondent suburbanite Earl (John Belushi) is jolted from his mundane existence when an unconventional couple (Dan Aykroyd, Cathy Moriarty) moves in next-door.Unnerved by his forwardness and her flirtatiousness, Earl is confused as to why they moved into his quiet community.He soon begins to draw his own conclusions, which ultimately leads to paranoia and self-destruction. A satire on suburban bliss, Neighbors finds both its SNL alumni playing against their type in order to create a truly eccentric comedy.Based on the delusional bestseller by Thomas Berger, this undervalued psychological comedy from the '80s is an excellent commentary on the confines of safety and sanity.Furthermore, you should only interact with your neighbours if they have a pool.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

I suppose this movie is one of those that divides the world into two camps ... but my camp will kick the hell out of yours, assuming you're in the camp that dislikes this classic.First off, I knew this was a great movie when I mentioned having seen it and my older brother looked at me with his well-practiced disdain and said 'it was the stupidest movie he'd ever seen' ... well that sealed it for me ... i knew it was a classic then ...Many people were completely thrown off by the somewhat reversal of roles for Belushi and Akroyd ... i suppose Belushi's role really threw off some people who couldn't imagine him playing the latter day burned-out shell of a man made famous by Spencer Tracy in "guess who's coming to dinner' (the great speech in the end) ... he's a worn out man who hates his job, cringes coming home looking at the long-empty house next door, and the sparks firing off the high tension lines out back ... you can just feel his inside sink as they must every day pushed and packed down tight by the crushing weight of the job he must hate ...Belushi relays all of this in the space of twenty seconds right at the start of the movie ... you don't need to know one more bit of background on his character ... it is a perfect piece of acting ... perhaps the single most perfect in a career filled with Belushi's usually over-the-top physical comedy but as wild as most of his best known bits are, this is so mild but yet complete it fits perfectly at the near-end of his career ... my god, it's sad to see it and think of how much more he could have accomplished without those nasty habits getting out of hand ... (at least it inspired plenty of other fellow comedians to clean up their hand and survive to develop their careers ... robin Williams comes to mind) but Cathy Moriarty plays the femme fatale to perfection and with the sexually suppressed, frustrated, and nearly shriveled up Belushi as her target, they make a great pair on screen ...and of course the madness that builds and keeps going and makes Belushi look like the crazy one ... but, and here's the warning spoiler, he is and finally fits in and becomes happy :) this is where my brother just griped and whined about how dumb the ending was ...he burned his house down ... HE BURNED IT DOWN lmao ... there ya go ... he finally 'went sane' :) watching it again for the first time in decades, this movie still holds its edge to this day ... show it to the kids ... it's nothing they can't see these days ... a true comedic classic