Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Plot

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) are trying to sell their home with the arrival of another baby. A couple, Eric (Sam Richardson) and Jessica Baiers (Abbi Jacobson) are looking to buy; the realtor (Liz Cackowski) tells Mac and Kelly that their house is in escrow for 30 days, so the Baiers' will check in every now and then to make sure everything is okay. Meanwhile, Mac's friend, Jimmy, and his once-again wife Paula are also expecting. At the Phi Lamda sorority, Shelby (Chloë Grace Moretz), a freshman, learns that sororities are not allowed to host parties, and can only attend frat parties. Shelby goes to a frat party and meets two other freshmen, Beth (Kiersey Clemons) and Nora (Beanie Feldstein). They are disgusted by the sexist and perverse nature of the party. The trio decides to set up a new sorority, Kappa Nu, to host their own parties.

Meanwhile, Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron) is at a dinner with his old frat brothers Pete (Dave Franco), Scoonie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and Garf (Jerrod Carmichael). Since graduating, Pete is working as an architect and has come out of the closet, Scoonie has launched his own app, and Garf became a cop. Teddy now has a criminal record and cannot get a worthwhile job. Pete's boyfriend Darren (John Early) then proposes to him, and Pete accepts, leading Pete to ask Teddy to move out, which later escalates into an argument between the two. The following day, the girls try to rent the adjacent house to the Radners', but do not have enough money to pay for it. Teddy, finding an opportunity where he can be valued, offers to help them and suggests a successful way to afford the rent. That night, they throw their first party. Horrified to learn they are a sorority, Mac and Kelly ask Shelby to keep the noise down. Mac and Kelly report them to Dean Gladstone (Lisa Kudrow), but she is unable to intervene since they are an independent sorority and she fears that shutting it down may lead to a public relations nightmare regarding sexism.

The couple contact Shelby's father (Kelsey Grammer), but he fails to control the situation. Feeling betrayed, the girls constantly haze the Radners. Mac, Kelly, Jimmy, and Paula retaliate by causing a bed bug infestation in the house, resulting in a fumigation just in time for the Baier's visit. The girls plan to raise money by selling weed at the school's tailgate and eliminating all the other competition by getting all the other weed dealers on campus arrested. Teddy strongly objects and the girls vote to kick him out of the house. Spurned, Teddy decides to join forces with the Radners to take down the sorority. They all go to the tailgate event to steal the weed. Teddy distracts the girls while Mac steals their weed supply. Shelby catches Mac, but he manages to escape. As gratitude for Teddy's help, Mac and Kelly allow him to stay at their place until he decides what he wants to do with his life, where he grows closer to them.

The girls switch Mac's and Kelly's phone numbers with their own, leading Kelly to become paranoid, and Mac to end up in Sydney, Australia. When he returns, Mac and Kelly find that they have been robbed and the sorority is selling their stuff and has spray-painted "Kappa Nu Steals From You" in the house. This causes the Baiers to threaten to pull out from the deal, while Mac and Kelly also reflect if they have been good parents. When the realtor of the sorority house reveals the girls are late on their payments, the Baiers give Mac and Kelly a day to get them out of the house. The girls find an eviction notice on their door. With barely any money to support themselves, Shelby says the only way they can win is to abandon their morals and resort to having a basic frat party with more sex appeal. They advertise the party to everyone on campus, leading to more people showing up at the house.

Jimmy and Paula sneak into the party while Teddy tries to shut off the power. Teddy gets into the electrical box, but the girls have a backup power source. While Jimmy ends up getting roofied, Shelby enters the Radners' house to cut off their phones. Mac and Teddy chase her to the garage, but get locked inside. They break out by using airbags from an old car.

Disgusted by the crude and perverted nature of the party, Beth and Nora decide to quit the sorority and blame Shelby for the disaster, leading the other girls to leave as well. Mac and Kelly feel sorry for the girls after hearing that Shelby only formed the sorority so she can make friends since back in high school she was constantly bullied and rejected. Kelly encourages the girls to go back to what they believe in. The girls then kick the frat boys out and have a more empowering girl party. The success of being the first sorority to throw a party brings girls from Phi Lamda and other sororities who want to pledge for Kappa Nu. By the end of the night, the girls make enough money not only to keep their house, but to give the surplus to Mac and Kelly so they can rent out their house due to overflowing pledges. Mac and Kelly happily agree, as long as they get five buckets of money per month. Paula goes into labor, meanwhile Teddy apologizes to Pete and Darren for his behavior and gets reassurance that he will never lose his best friend. Mac and Kelly's anxiety about their parenthood is also alleviated as the realize they have been good parents all along.

Three months later, Teddy is helping Pete get ready to walk down the aisle. Teddy has become a wedding planner for gay couples. Mac and Kelly have now moved into their new home. They bring home their new baby, Mildred, to join Jimmy and Paula with their new son.

Cast

Development

By early February 2015, a sequel to Neighbors was in development, with Nicholas Stoller set to return to direct. Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien returned to write the film, along with Stoller, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg. The film follows Mac and Kelly joining forces with Delta Psi frat leader Teddy to take on the sorority girls who move in next door. Rogen, Rose Byrne, and Zac Efron returned to star. The film was initially scheduled to begin principal photography in mid-2015.

Casting

In July 2015, Chloë Grace Moretz joined the cast, and the title was revealed to be Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. On August 4, 2015, it was confirmed that Carla Gallo and Ike Barinholtz would be returning for the sequel. On August 7, 2015, Beanie Feldstein and Kiersey Clemons were added to the cast to play Moretz's character's sorority sisters. On August 13, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Dave Franco would return for the sequel. Selena Gomez was seen filming on set. Lisa Kudrow was also spotted filming, along with other cast. By September 24, 2015, Billy Eichner had joined the cast of the film. The same month, it was revealed that Hannibal Buress and Jerrod Carmichael had been cast in the film, reprising their roles from the first film. Clara Mamet and Nora Lum also joined the cast. On November 18, 2015, it was announced that Cameron Dallas had joined the cast. In December 2015, it was revealed that Abbi Jacobson had also joined the cast, followed by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Liz Cackowski, and Brian Huskey, all reprising their roles from the first film.

Filming

Principal photography began on August 31, 2015, in Dunwoody, Georgia, and ended on October 29, 2015. In March 2016, Moretz was spotted filming reshoots in Los Angeles.

Post-production

During post-production, Lena Dunham, LL Cool J, and Cameron Dallas's scenes were all cut from the film. In her cut scene, Dunham played Joan of Arc.

Release

On February 6, 2015, Universal Pictures scheduled the film for release on May 13, 2016. However, on July 27, 2015, the film was pushed back one week to May 20, 2016.

Box office

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising grossed $55.3 million in North America and $52.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $107.9 million, against a budget of $35 million.

In North America, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising opened on May 20, 2016, alongside The Angry Birds Movie and The Nice Guys, and was projected to gross $35–40 million from 3,384 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $1.7 million during its Thursday night previews (lower than the original's $2.5 million) and $8.7 million on its first day. In its opening weekend the film grossed $21.8 million, less than half both the previous film's opening ($49 million) and projections, and finished third at the box office behind The Angry Birds Movie ($39 million) and Captain America: Civil War ($33.1 million).

Internationally, where it is known as Bad Neighbours 2, the film was released in a total of 56 countries. It was released in 16 markets on May 6, 2016, where it earned $8 million in its opening weekend. The United Kingdom and Ireland posted the top opening for the film with $2.4 million, followed by Australia with $1.8 million and $1.5 million in Germany.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 62%, based on 180 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising may not be strictly necessary, but it still wrings a surprising amount of humor from a recycled premise with a distaff twist." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade earned by its predecessor.

Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, writing, "In a world in which so many comedy sequels fail, here comes a comedy sequel that isn’t just 'as good as the first movie,' it’s even better." The Guardian awarded it two stars out of five, saying, "This pretty routine follow-up has some decent material and amiable bad taste, heavily diluted with gallons of very ordinary sequel product: more of the same."