H H 1/2

R, 96 minutes. Niantic, Groton, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon.

"Neighbors" is an "Animal House" for "The Hangover" era, a frat-boy comedy that pushes the rude and raunchy envelope into daring and dirty new territory. Hilariously coarse, reasonably shrewd and clumsily sentimental, there's no reason it won't earn a billion and inspire a whole new generation of party-hearty "bros" to go Greek when they go to college. The hook here is not just the appeal of this band of brothers - drinking, dope-smoking, hard-living loverboys - to their peers. They're also the sorts of guys Mac and Kelly used to be and wish they still were. But Mac (Seth Rogen) has an office job that is pure drudgery. Kelly (Rose Byrne) is staying at home with Stella, their newborn. They have to lie to convince themselves that the obvious hasn't come true: "Just because we have a house and a baby doesn't mean we're old people." They strain to keep their old lives - sharing the occasional joint, spontaneous sex (in front of the baby), club hopping. "We can have fun AND a baby! Baby's first Rave!" The trouble is, they can't. And having the up-all-night kids of Delta Psi Beta move in next door just rubs their noses in it. The kids, led by Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco), may feign neighborliness and high fraternity ideals. But they're hedonistic beasts, living to make their legends with a frat that claims it invented the toga party, beer pong and the like.

- Roger Moore, McClatchy