Neighbors | | Cast : | John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd | | Director : | John G. Avildsen | | Studio : | | | Format : | | | Released Date : | December 18, 1981 | | DVD Released Date : | June 10, 2003 | | Language : | | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | Best Black Comedy Ever - and the musical Score...! | Content
 | I'm glad to see so many people love this film. It truly is brilliant. I have loved it since first seeing it on HBO in the early 80's. I remember when it first came out, all my friends were so disappointed that it wasn't like Animal House. In fact, it got so many bad reviews that I never went to the theater to see it.
It has since become my most loved film; I know every line. The reviews I have read here already expound beautifully on the movie's brilliance as a Black Comedy, so I won't try to elaborate any further.
Rather, my main reason for writing is because no one has mentioned Bill Conti's wonderful musical score. (Bill Conti wrote the theme from "Rocky," among many other things) This is some of the most brilliant and creative film music I've ever heard. When I was a student at Berklee College of Music in the 1980's, this score was used as a "textbook" case study by the Film Scoring department. The masterful use of leit motifs and "Mickey Mousing" (taken from cartoon scoring of the 40's and 50's where the music mimicks the on-screen action), along with the multitude of original melodic and harmonic compositions, makes it, in my opinion, one of the finest and most ambitious film scoring efforts of its time.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that the score for Neighbors IS cartoon music. It was probably intended to be as such.
This is the classic film scoring "style," if you will - played in orchestral form, usually conducted "to picture" by the composer. This means that the entire orchestra is seated in a big recording studio with a screen behind them on which the movie is played. The composer then conducts the ensemble by watching the "live" action.
There is so much going on musically here, that I would really need part of a semester to disseminate it, but next time you watch the movie, listen to all the incredible detail in the music. I especially love the minor-key reharmonization of "No Place Like Home," and all the other themes and leit motifs he created, often with 2 or more variations of each. (A leit motif is essentially a character's own theme music - Earl's is always played with a trombone to impart the feeling that he's a chubby, hapless victim, while Vic's is played with a creepy Theremin sound).
I also love the scene where Earl comes out of "The Swamp" - this is classic 1950's Sci-Fi thriller music - maybe even borrowed from "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" or some other film of that era.
While watching this film recently, I realized just how important Mr. Conti's music really is to the film. It wouldn't be the same movie without it, and that is the film composer's ultimate goal - to create a score that becomes as much a part of the film as the visual elements, while also supporting character development and providing continuity that binds the whole story together.
Bill Conti achieved that and so much more in spades here. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 30, 2005 | | Summary | obscure, twisted, warped, hysterical... but not for everyone | Content
| This is really one of the lost masterpieces of black comedy. It is also worth saying that this film is not for everyone and defines the saying "love it or hate it"! Having read the book with the same title written by Thomas Berger I was so intrigued by the idea of Belushi and Aykroyd taking on the main roles, and having a hand in both production and adapatation from book that I saw it first chance I got. One of the reasons that this film never got the credit that it deserved was that Belushi and Aykroyd were almost "too good" to do this film in the sense that the audience which would have been attracted to the film at the time of its release often felt "let down" and "not laughing" having shown up expecting to see basic slapstick humor more typical to the past work of the two. Instead what they ended up getting was a film which was pure black humor whose laughs were based more on scenario and conversation rather than typical Saturday Night Live laughs a minute.
This film takes place over the course of one evening and into the next morning which we see a man with a very 'normal suburban life' which ends up turned upside down and inside out when the new Neighbors move in next door. The lead role of the dull overworked nine to five accountant was intended for Aykroyd and played by Belushi, something they both insisted upon when developing the screenplay adaptation of the book. Aykroyd plays the fast living neighbor with a sexy wife played by Cathy Moriarity (Raging Bull). When Belushi invites Aykroyd and his swinging wife over for a quick 'welcome' drink, his life ends up turning upside down by the paranoia and insanity that follow the two. The rest is difficult to describe without giving away the story, but its just safe to say that his exposure to these intrusive people who live by the seat of their pants leaves Earl not only angry but questioning his own existance, not to mention his unhappy wife and her appeal to the foul mouthed obnoxious couple. As the film develops Earl begins to question his nine to five corporate job as well as his life (under the powelines)in middle class suburbia.
Like I said right from the get go.... this is not for everyone. The laughs are dime a dozen as well as the twisted conversation and dialouge which only gets more bizarre as the film moves on.
If your looking for Animal House, Caddyshack, or even The Blues Brothers this is not the film to see. But if your interested in seeing a film that defines the term 'black comedy' with a trippy dialogue this is for you. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 23, 2005 | | Summary | Odd Little Black Comedy | Content
| Made just before his death, NEIGHBORS (1981) was John Belushi's last film, teaming him one again with his good friend and collaborator Dan Aykroyd. The two had co-starred together in both 1941 and THE BLUES BROTHERS, in addition to appearing on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (they both also had cameos in the made-for-TV special THE RUTLES.) The story, in basic: Belushi (as mild mannered Earl Keese) and his wife are leading a docile, utterly boring existence in some anonymous suburb when neo-facist Aykroyd and his over-sexed wife Cathy Moriarty (most famous for her work in RAGING BULL the previous year) move in next door and begin to play havoc with the Keese's dull lifestyle.
It's pretty obvious that, when the studio started out with this project, they thought they had a surefire hit. Belushi and Aykroyd were, by this time, both HUGE comedy stars. The director, John G. Avildsen, had previously guided the Oscar nominated box office sensation ROCKY. The producers, Richard Zanuck and David Brown, were the same men behind movies like JAWS and THE FRENCH CONNECTION, both huge successes. Moriarty had only made her film debut the previous year in Martin Scorsese's masterpiece RAGING BULL, but her acting had snagged her a nomination as best supporting actress. And screenwriter Larry Gelbart was the same guy who had written for classic TV series like MASH, YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS and CAESER'S HOUR, not to mention penning the script for the box office success OH, GOD!. The film seemed like a sure bet.
So much talent gone into a vaccuum.
To this day, NEIGHBORS is one of the great curiosities of the movies. Look it up on the internet and you'd be surprised how little information about it is out there. Despite the many high profile people who were involved with the film, it is rarely mentioned, and has gone down in history as something better forgotten. Read interviews with Aykroyd, Gelbart, ANYONE, and you will NEVER find ANY mention of NEIGHBORS; even if you do, it's usually just an offhand comment about how crappy it was.
Well, as I said before, NEIGHBORS is something of a creative vaccuum. This mostly has to do with the fact that it was apparently out of control from day one. Gelbert's screenplay was apparently completely re-written by Aykroyd and Belushi, who did not get along with director Avildsen, who did not get along with Gelbert, and so on and so forth. Clearly, the film was going to end up being a mess, and when it came out, it was trashed by critics and flopped with audiences. Today, it's not even available on DVD, and the only way to see it is by way of an ultra-crappy videotape transfer.
And yet, despite how messy and unfocused it is, despite the fact that it IS a creative vaccuum, despite the fact that all logic says this movie sucks, it is strangely compelling. It ALMOST works.
I think that part of the reason for this is that the movie is just plain STRANGE. Reading the summary, it honestly doesn't sound all that odd; in fact, you can see this story going MANY different ways. In fact, NEIGHBORS is not odd in terms of its story, but the way it TELLS that story; this movie has to be SEEN to be believed.
The whole movie feels like the filmmakers channeled all their creative energies into thinking up ways to alienate and baffle the audience. From the sinister undercurrent of Aykroyd's character to the treatment of the character of Belushi's daughter to the neo-nazi tendancies that Aykroyd's character exhibits, this thing is in another dimension. Honestly, it's not so much funny as it is puzzling; you don't really laugh so much as you raise an eyebrow and stare slack-jawed at the screen, thinking, "What the HECK was THAT?!"
Alright, I'll admit that there are some funny moments. The slapstick is well done. Moriarty plays her poorly scripted role to the hilt. Belushi does a good job playing the STRAIGHT MAN, for a change. But the great performance in this movie comes from Aykroyd, playing Vic. Aykroyd gives a no holds barred, obnoxious performance, and his scenes were mainly the thing that really kept me going through this film. Aykroyd's character -- and the way he plays him -- is such a ghastly, nihilistic grotesque that you HAVE to laugh at him.
So NEIGHBORS manages to succeed in spite of the fact that the script makes no sense, the direction is pedestrian, and the film never really knows whether it's trying to be a wacky comedy or an episode of the TWILIGHT ZONE. No simple feat, if you ask me. This movie may not be all that good, but to be quite honest, it's much more fascinating than a lot of better made films.
To conclude, NEIGHBORS is a good movie to rent if you feel like having an extremely bizarre experience, NOT if you're expecting wacky screwball comedy. And here's hoping that a special edition DVD gets issued; I'd like to get some insight into just WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD was going on when this anomoly of filmmaking was foisted upon the Earth. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 10, 2004 | | Summary | Belushi and Akroyd's Best | Content
| Wow, this is the funniest movie I've ever seen. Every time you watch you catch something new. Great musical themes, great insanity. This movie has so many funny lines you have to watch it again and again. "...and if I didn't have to do this sh** for a living, I wouldn't sell you my snot."
Begs for a full-featured DVD. Please. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 18, 2004 | | Summary | Another Champion of Hollywood Studio Avant-Garde | Content
| A great atmosphere movie for any Friday night, "Neighbors" is still as funny and bizarre now as it was when released. This is a wonderful companion to films such as Scorsese's "After Hours" or Dante's "The `Burbs." An often over-looked film, "Neighbors" is a brilliant symbiosis of the comedy and thriller genre. Earl Keese is an unimaginative Walter Mitty stuck in boring suburbia. After Captain Vic and Empress Ramona move next door, Earl begins on a 24-hour journey to save his soul -- to be released from the stagnant swamp of dead-end living -- and 9-5 working. Both Belushi and Aykroyd expand their comedy by switching their normally stereotyped roles. Oscar-Nominated (Raging Bull) Cathy Moriarty also turns in a great performance as the temptress Ramona. The swamp scene behind Earl's house is a powerful and mythic metaphor of Earl being "sucked down" by outside forces. It's also where he becomes baptized into a "new world" where he will reign. The Gelbart script (heavily rewritten by Belushi and Aykroyd during the Writer's Guild Strike) follows many of the Joseph Campbell tests and trials of the mythic hero. In addition to story, the film also boasts some fast, screwball comedy dialogue. Here's one of the witty exchanges in the post-modern Robert Riskin vein: Vic: We're waiting, or do I have to pound it out of you? Earl Keese: Don't ever speak to me like that in my own house! Vic: Why would I? Earl Keese: You just did. Vic: I didn't mean anything -- it's just something a guy says. Earl Keese: I never say it. Vic: I don't blame you. Experience "Neighbors" with some spaghetti from Caesar's Garlic Wars, a small spaghetti and wine dealership at Valley Field Mall on Route 3, next to the Cinema-Cineplex and the Singer Sewing Center. Oh, and for breakfast the next morning, tell your loved one: "I hope you like blueberry pancakes and little baby sausages --'cause that's what yer getting'!" |
|
