Post by jimanchower on Jun 15, 2019 3:23:11 GMT
That was my understanding as well. I like this movie quite a bit. It seems to have been forgotten to the sands of time (for whatever reason). "Neighbors" and "What About Bob?" are the ones that come up in my hall of fame of sadly forgotten comedy gold.
Belushi and Ackroyd had a great back-and-forth. It was nice to see them switch it up in "Neighbors" where Ackroyd played it big and Belushi played it straight, as it was a contrast to "Blues Brothers", in which they were equally enjoyable. There are not a lot of comedic actors who can 'switch shirts' like that. Two thumbs up for "Neighbors" big time.
I wouldn't call it "comedy gold" exactly. Like I said I like it but it's more in a "WTF were they thinking?/WTF is going on?" kind of way. It's not a bad movie but it's not great either. I've always found it interesting just because of how fucking weird and nonsensical and random it is.
It has some funny parts and lines and for whatever reason it keeps my interest when I watch it. I always crack up at that scene where they're all at the dinner table and Dan Ackroyd says something, I think he says "or am I going to have to beat it out of you?" or something like that, anyway, Belushi replies "don't you ever talk to me that way in my own house" and Ackroyd replies "why would I?" Then Belushi replies "you just did!".
It's such stupid dialogue but it makes me laugh every time. Dan Ackroyd asking Belushi if he wants to try his daughter's panties is another so weird it's funny scene.
Like I said, I like it but it's one of those movies that could have been really great, with that cast and director and premise but for whatever reason it just didn't work and that to me is almost as interesting as a great film.
From what I've read it wasn't Belushi's idea to switch roles, it was the director. I have no idea if that's true or not but I was just reading articles about the movie and read that somewhere.
I just bought the novel so hopefully that will shed some light on why they go from being enemies to friends to enemies constantly in the movie. In the movie it makes zero sense and like I said I've always wondered if it's not supposed to make any sense at all or if the movie just failed in conveying what's supposed to be happening. It would make more sense if the movie took place over a few months or a year or something but it all happens in what, a day? Maybe 2?