Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Review

The surprise is that this one has something to say. The sorority is founded because the campus system forbids women from throwing their own parties, and the film treats that as a real grievance rather than a setup, which several critics called the sharpest social observation the franchise was ever going to make. Chloe Grace Moretz plays Shelby with conviction, Rose Byrne remains the best comic performer in the cast, and the reversal that turns Zac Efron's Teddy into a man with no idea what to do after college gives the sequel its genuine ache.

He is better here than in the first film. The problem is the comedy. The structure is a near copy of the original, the escalation beats hit the same marks in the same order, and the improvisation feels thinner because the surprise is gone. A subplot about the parents selling the house manufactures urgency out of paperwork. Most reviewers land in the same place: more thoughtful, less funny, and unnecessary in a way the first film never was. It is pleasant company that repeats itself.