GODZILLA MEETS THE NEIGHBORS! Huge Monsters vs. Crass Frat Boys!!

Fraternity Raises Monsters in Basement

I saw two movies last week, GODZILLA and NEIGHBORS!  Both films were based on ludicrous premises.  Godzilla is a wonderful but ludicrous monster, and the suggestion that any suburban neighborhood would have zoning that would allow an out-of- control fraternity to buy a house as happens in NEIGHBORS is almost as ludicrous.  I tepidly enjoyed them both, but I was a little disappointed.

     I was psyched for GODZIRRA based on the trailers, but I found it to be a little slow.  Great special effects, of course.  The Big G eventually saves not only San Francisco but the world as we know it.  But. . . The only performance I found to be believable, (except, of course, the ones by the monsters) was the wife/nurse played by Elizabeth Olsen, who it turns out is the little sister of Mary Kate and Ashley.  Elizabeth can really act, but her face is so sweetly round that it occasionally looked like a balloon in 3-D.  (This was my first experience with current 3-D films.)

     As to NEIGHBORS, someone should do a time study to see whether there were more minutes of crass foolishness or more of humanly acceptable verbal exchange in the movie.  I definitely think crass foolishness would win.  Some good laughs, but this frat house film pales in comparison to the father of all crass fraternity pictures, ANIMAL HOUSE.  Best performance? Hands down the two babies who played baby Stella.  Sweet, hilarious, lovable.  This infant was so good and so sweet, I thought at times she might have been CG!  (That means computer generated.  I hate it when people write something in a blog or article as if it were common knowledge, when it might not be common knowledge   It's like the writers who put philosophical quotes in French in articles in THE ATLANTIC and THE NEW YORKER.)  But I digress. . .

     On my own scale of effectiveness I give these films both ISWUOD, "I shoulda waited until On Demand."  If I had to chose a favorite, I think I would be more apt to watch NEIGHBORS a second time than GODZIRRA.  Although, Elizabeth Olsen does have a very cute and very round face.  If you enjoy watching faces that are both cute and round, you might opt for a second viewing of GODZILLA in its current incarnation.