It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

"Neighbors" is quite an odd film. It was Aykord and Belushi's follow up to "The Blues Brothers", but it couldn't be any different from the comedy in that film even if it tried. Where "The Blues Brothers" was strange in places-but easy to laugh at-"Neighbors" comedy comes a place of absurdity most people probably aren't familiar with.John Belushi plays Earl Keese, a straight laced, middle aged man who lives a very orderly and routine life. Sure it's boring, but him and his wife don't seem bothered by it. However, when a very strange couple moves in next door, Earl's life is completely changed in only a matter of 24 hours as he's thrown into a world completely devoid of manners and common decency. Aykroyd and Belushi go completely against character type with Aykroyd playing the party animal and Belushi playing the straight laced one. However, it works surprisingly well and it gives Belushi a chance to show a side of his comedy that wasn't seen very much-dark and strange are the best two words to describe it. In fact the whole film is that-dark and strange-it's never impossible to laugh at, but it's very strange to watch. Probably the reason the film was such a disappointment was because it was marketed as a straight up comedy rather than the dark absurdist piece it really is. That's not to say it's a perfect film, the music is incredibly intrusive and Earl's change of heart towards Vic and Ramona feels a little abrupt. But, for the most part, the film works on a lot of levels. The comedy is very intriguing, the acting is surprisingly good and the overall feel of the film is very unique. It's a film worth seeing, maybe not one that's on repeat, but one that's occasionally put on when you need a bit of dark escapism.

"Neighbors" is a loopy dark comedy, based on a novel by Thomas Berger. Although the screenplay is credited to Larry Gelbart, it was actually heavily re-written, and was a very troubled shoot. It stars 'Saturday Night Live' funnymen John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, in a classic case of role reversal. Here, Belushi is the straight man and Aykroyd the zany one. Belushi plays Earl Keese, a mild middle class individual living at the end of a suburban street. One night, the neighbors move in: pushy, obnoxious Vic (Aykroyd), and his extremely seductive wife Ramona (Cathy Moriarty, then hot off her memorable turn in "Raging Bull"). They introduce an element of excitement into Earls' mundane existence.In this viewers' own humble opinion, this wasn't a particularly funny movie. Moments of real wit and cleverness are not that frequent. Director John G. Avildsen ("Rocky", "The Karate Kid") just doesn't seem to have a feel for this sort of material. Occasionally, "Neighbors" is amusing, but the main thing that it has going for it are some deft performances. Aykroyd clearly has fun in his part, and Belushi shows a different side to his comedic talent by doing an impressive job here. Moriarty is devilishly entertaining. Kathryn Walker ("Slap Shot") is fine as Earls' wife, as is Lauren-Marie Taylor ("Friday the 13th Part 2") as his free-spirited daughter. There are also a few appearances by Belushi and Aykroyds' fellow 'SNL' alum Tim Kazurinsky.To be fair, there are some good lines, such as the one that motivates Earl to open his cellar door. I thought the scenes with Belushi and Moriarty were among the better ones. Bill Conti supplies a deliberately goofy music score.It's also rather sad watching this, knowing this was Belushis' last film.Five out of 10.

Reading the IMDb reviews or the Wikipedia backstory for "Neighbors" is more entertaining than watching the film itself. Not that it's without engaging qualities; it just needs a lot of fixing up.When new neighbors move into the only other house on a swampy cul-de-sac called Bird Street, beaten-down suburbanite Earl Keese (John Belushi) finds himself dealing with more than he bargained for. Are Vic (Dan Aykroyd) and Ramona (Cathy Moriarty) the kick in the pants he needs? Or are they a pair of demented weirdos taking him for a ride?The only thing holding "Neighbors" together is the one thing you figure on not working going in: Belushi's performance. While filming occurred while he was sliding back into his additions, Belushi manages to deliver a note-perfect performance as the befuddled everyman at the center of the storm. In fact, he was clean and sober for much of the shoot, and seems ready to continue what he started in his previous film, "Continental Divide," by playing a fully-realized character rather than a cartoon.There's a soulfulness to Earl Keese that makes you root for him, even when he's trying pathetically to alternately make time with and fend off his neighbor's wife. "Look, you got no interest in me," he tells her. "Why you coming onto me like this?"Why is she? I don't know, and I don't think anyone associated with the film did, either. Not Moriarty, who simply slinks around and makes bedroom eyes at Earl like a sinewy Mae West; not screenwriter Larry Gelbart; and certainly not director John G. Avildsen, who famously ceded control of this troubled production to his two stars, Aykroyd and Belushi.Aykroyd is the film's wild card, whose Vic character plays a number of tricks on Earl over the course of the movie's 24-hour time period. He chisels Earl for $32 to get a takeout meal he cooks himself, teases Earl about his daughter's edible panties, and alternately threatens and encourages Earl regarding Ramona. As solid as Belushi is, Aykroyd is antic and unfocused, relying on his sky-blue contact lenses and slick blond hairdo among other props to supply humor that's missing in the script.The idea of the story is a good one, taken from a Thomas Berger novel of some repute. Earl's problems aren't just with his neighbors. He also has that odd teenage daughter, Elaine (Lauren-Marie Taylor) sipping beer from a straw. His wife, Enid (Kathryn Walker) is a similarly emasculating enigma who has an apparent hand in Vic and Ramona's head games. "You always go limp in a crisis," she sneers. A sense of suburban menace is effectively developed, the one thing other than Belushi's performance that holds up with repeated viewings.But "Neighbors" is not a film with a discernible point. It is all about tone, except whenever it establishes a tone it reshuffles the cards or throws up the deck. One minute Vic is kneeing Earl in the groin, the next Earl is begging him and Ramona not to leave, because they make him feel so alive. You get the feeling they were rewriting the script anew at the end of each shooting day.At least when the camera's on Belushi, there's a chance for something good, whether he's shaving with his wife's leg razor (and screaming in pain when he puts on his aftershave lotion) or trying to turn the tables on Vic during a tense dinner. Made up to look middle-aged, something he never got to be in life, Belushi's maturity in the part is a revelation you take away from this otherwise labored, curiously undercooked mashugana of a film, along with a sense it might have been a worthy swansong had there been someone at the controls who knew what he was doing.

Earl Keese (John Belushi) is a humorless conservative guy living with his wife Enid in a cul-de-sac. Their quiet life is turned upside down when sexually aggressive Ramona (Cathy Moriarty) and oddly blonde Vic (Dan Aykroyd) move in next door. Daughter Elaine Keese comes home after getting kicked out of school.This movie is doomed from the start. John Belushi is hopelessly playing against type. He may as well have his hands tied behind him. Dan Aykroyd is capable of playing the wild man but he's doing some kind of animated cartoon character. Cathy Moriarty may be the only one who is doing anything remotely funny. The glaring miscast mistake is followed up by an utterly unfunny movie. It is not surprising to read about how the stars had trouble with director John G. Avildsen in the problematic production. It is sad to know that this is John Belushi's final movie.