When you went to see "Neighbors 2" this weekend, right next door in your movie theater was "Captain America: Civil War," something you have already seen. Little do you know, you are seeing the same thing again.
While "Captain America: Civil War" had benefits to it, at this point, the franchise has turned into a stack of papers messily thrown on your desk that you always do so much work on but never seem to prioritize. Origin stories like the Black Panther and Spiderman have become B and C list stories, stuffing 120 minutes of plot into something like 15, and each individual character might get a scene or two, if any at all. I miss the days when I could feel like I've been through something with a character. There was nothing more satisfying in "Captain America" than at the end when we got to see a picture of Steve pre-operation, just showing how far he and us both have come.
Unfortunately, that is not the reality, and it seems to be spreading. "Neighbors 2" is about the same couple, Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne), with one child who is starting to be able to talk and another on the way, trying to sell their house. Unfortunately, they are in escrow, and just as they are hoping nothing jeopardizes their plan, a sorority moves next door and they like to party.
Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz), Beth (Kiersey Clemmons), and Nora (Beanie Feldstein) are disillusioned by a sorority they try to join after they find out they, as a sorority in the United States, can't party. Not only that, but the fraternity party they go to consists of neon arrows pointing upstairs and guys hunting them down to bring them there. They decide to challenge the system and form their own sorority, one that hosts their own parties that actually empower women instead of degrade them.
Teddy (Zac Efron) is still with his old frat brothers, though he is the only one who clearly still doesn't have his life together. When Pete (Dave Franco) asks him to move out, Teddy seeks refuge in the only place he knows: his old fraternity house. It is here that he meets the girls and, with no other perceived options, extends an offer to mentor them.
This is not the best for Mac and Kelly, but luckily, they have Jimmy (Ike Barinholtz) and Paula (Carla Gallo), their friends, to help them out. Jimmy and Paula have their own problems; however, as they are expecting their first child and Jimmy is just as afraid to have his first as Mac is to have his second, they find commonalities in one another.
While all of this is happening, we do hear about Garf (Jerrod Carmichael), Teddy's friend and former fraternity brother, endeavoring as a rookie police officer, guided with the hand of Officer Watkins (Hannibal Buress).
Seems like a lot, right? It is. There are five different story lines in this film. Each one, with the exception of the last, is given its own substantial amount of time, too. It seems all right and the film was incessantly entertaining, but when the credits starting rolling, I felt like I never truly experienced the film, almost as if I was on my phone the whole time.
"Neighbors 2" is really its own "Civil War" in that it has so many different story lines, none of which ever stick out or can be fully fleshed out without having jarring plot transition. The product is jumbled. I mean, what is this story really about? Is it about coming to grips with your current parenthood while looking forward to a new child? The realities of being a woman in college today? Moving on and becoming an adult? You could easily say "all of these," but I question the validity of that statement. Each story line only has so much to it, and the less significant the story line, the less resolved it is. What's going to happen to Zac Efron's character? He is asked for value from Mac and Kelly after they join forces in the second half, and then he's back to being friends with Pete again in the end, with nothing really learned. Even with Mac and Kelly, their interior insecurities are purged by the success of their having gotten a new house. But are they really in a better place at the end, in terms of knowledge, than they were in the beginning? Not really. The police story line never really resolves itself either, but instead gets its conclusion in the second act with no closure.
I'll make it clear now that I'm familiar with the ensemble film and have no problem with that. I am one of the biggest fans of "Dazed and Confused." For movies like "Neighbors 2," however, it's the unnecessary over-stuffing of story lines that is the problem. It's that we are making hybrids in film, not really one thing and not really another — a multi-task representing a multi-task, if I may. That's the problem.
It only makes sense that our American culture is so keen on multi-tasking that the things we multi-task have become multi-tasks in themselves. And "Neighbors 2" isn't the start; this has been happening for a long time. Take "Jurassic World," the second-highest grossing film of 2015. That movie has three story lines. Or how about " Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens," the highest grossing film of 2015. That movie has four story lines. Keep in mind, too, that these films are sequels, ones in which the originals only had one story line.
It's happening in the world around us, too. Watch the Super Bowl halftime show and you won't be given only one act for the 12-minute duration of the performance. We've become too bored of that, so now there will be at least three acts up there. Going to see some live music this summer? Concerts have died down and now festivals have never been bigger. You could see dozens of acts all in one weekend.
Before I sign off, it should be noted that we really like our stars, and maybe that's why we like these over-stuffed casts. We like our actors more than we like actual movies. Take the 2016 Oscar's for example, where the American public was more interested in the Best Actor category than the actual Best Picture category. Again, we love our stars. Cameos like Selena Gomez in "Neighbors 2" used to be a pleasant surprise; now it's just an expectation.
So it seems that, yes, over-stuffed superhero movies are influencing cinema, and given the box office, it was only a matter of time. Soon enough, all franchises will have story lines, and it'll get to the point where the movies themselves aren't enough for our attention. We'll need spin-offs to keep it. Speaking of which, anyone else excited for "Star Wars: Rogue One?"
