{"id":25,"date":"2006-03-04T15:16:43","date_gmt":"2006-03-04T22:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25"},"modified":"2024-04-18T00:57:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T07:57:58","slug":"neighbors-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25","title":{"rendered":"Neighbors (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;We might have had a wonderful relationship. But then, as Arthur Bremer once said, &#8216;How many things go right in this crazy world?'&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Poster-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Poster-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Poster.jpg 495w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nStaid suburbanite Earl Keese (John Belushi) must deal with his obnoxious new neighbors (Dan Aykroyd and Cathy Moriarty), who seem hell-bent on disrupting his peaceful life.  <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Black Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Dan Aykroyd Films<\/li>\n<li>John Belushi Films<\/li>\n<li>Living Nightmare<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary points out, &#8220;if you&#8217;ve [ever] had crummy and incorrigible neighbors&#8221;, you&#8217;ll definitely be able to relate to this unfairly maligned black comedy, starring John Belushi in his final screen appearance. Both Belushi and Aykroyd are cleverly cast against type in roles meant for each other: Belushi plays a &#8220;dull, ineffectual, married, [bespectacled] suburbanite&#8221;, while Dan Aykroyd is his pathologically lying, thoroughly obnoxious neighbor. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2-1024x570.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"356\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2-1024x570.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2-768x428.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2-1536x855.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd2.png 1733w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Though most reviewers and audience members at the time panned this film, I agree with Peary that it&#8217;s actually a reasonably entertaining &#8220;surreal comedy&#8221;. As Peary notes, Aykroyd&#8217;s character may be incredibly annoying, but at least &#8220;he provides [Belushi] with the first excitement he&#8217;s had in years&#8221;. I&#8217;ll admit, however, that I would have preferred a different story arc, with Belushi getting <em>revenge<\/em> on his nemeses rather than cynically joining them.   <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dan Aykroyd playing against type as a blonde neo-Nazi (!)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd-1024x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-65845\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd-768x430.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd-1536x859.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd-483x270.png 483w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Neighbors-Aykroyd.png 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See?<\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but Belushi fans will certainly want to check it out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0082801\/\">IMDb entry<\/a>  <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/neighbors-1981\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We might have had a wonderful relationship. But then, as Arthur Bremer once said, &#8216;How many things go right in this crazy world?&#8217;&#8221; Synopsis: Staid suburbanite Earl Keese (John Belushi) must deal with his obnoxious new neighbors (Dan Aykroyd and Cathy Moriarty), who seem hell-bent on disrupting his peaceful life. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Black Comedy Dan Aykroyd Films John Belushi Films Living Nightmare Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary points out, &#8220;if you&#8217;ve [ever] had crummy and incorrigible&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95842,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/95842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}