Wendy Ide 

Bad Neighbours 2 review – old jokes aren’t the best

This sequel is trapped in a comedy cul-de-sac, despite the best efforts of the charmingly hapless Zac Efron
  
  

Seth Rogen, centre, and Chloë Grace Moretz, far left, in Bad Neighbours 2.
‘A nearly identical premise’: Seth Rogen, centre, and Chloë Grace Moretz, far left, in Bad Neighbours 2. Photograph: Chuck Zlotnick

The jokes were sharp and cynical the first time around. And in the sequel to the parents-versus-students comedy, they still generate plenty of laughs. The problem is, they are the same jokes, recycled into a nearly identical premise. This time Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) find themselves living next to a sorority, and a reasonable request to keep the partying at a low level results in an escalation to all-out war. Teddy (Zac Efron) returns, this time on the side of the “old people”, and his low- achieving haplessness and tendency to strip off result in some of the film’s most amusing moments.

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