What can I say about a movie that made me want to slap everyone in the face? “Bad Neighbors” is so shallow, self-satisfied and downright silly that I hesitate to discuss it. It has none of the qualities of director Nicholas Stoller’s debut feature, “Forgetting Sarah Marhall”, and it’s a long way from Seth Rogen’s “The Pineapple Express” with James Franco. The premise involves a couple, Kelly (Rose Byrne) and Mark (Rogen), who are trying to settle down in a quiet neighborhood with their newborn child. That is until a bunch of noisy douchebags (led by Zac Efron) move into the house next door. That’s cue for director Stoller to throw in one ridiculous gag after the other. I understand that the film’s “in your face” attitude is supposed to give it permission to be offensive, since none of this is meant to be taken seriously. But the repetitive jokes, along with Rogen’s crude sexual references, grow tiresome pretty fast. What’s worse, they’re not always funny. I don’t demand a lot from a silly Hollywood comedy, but it would be nice to find a smarter, more original piece of work than this in 2014. If you find yourself trying to choose between this and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, my advice is: stay home and read a book.

Rating: 2/4