THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

Given the flamboyant and grandiose nature of P.T. Barnum's circus, it makes perfect sense that The Greatest Showman, about his life and creation, is a musical.  And with impressive musical numbers, fine acting, and a compelling story, it works very well.

Phineas Barnum had a rough childhood as a dreamer and the poor son of a tailor -- and that didn't make his romantic interest in the upper-class Charity any easier.  As an adult, Phineas (Hugh Jackman) and Charity (Michelle Williams) got married and had two little girls.  While they are poor and Phineas has trouble holding down a job, Phineas wants to give her and his family something more,

With a bit of fraud, Phineas opens up a shop of oddities, hoping to attract customers to seeing the unusual.  On his daughter's advice he changes the museum to a live show, advertising for the unusual and outcasts of society.  He gets quite a lot, from Tom Thumb and the singing bearded lady to acrobatic brother and sister Anne and W.D. Wheeler (Zendaya, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).  The show proves to be a popular hit, and now P.T. Barnum buys his family a huge mansion while acting as the host for the performances.  But the show generates controversy, from both the upper class (and a newspaper critic who thinks it's all trickery) and the lower class (who resent the so-called "freaks").

Barnum brings in playwright Philip Carlyle (Zac Efron) to expand the circus' appeal to the upper classes.  He's interested in Anne, though she's concerned about how they could be together when society frowns on mixed-race couples.  Meanwhile Barnum gets distracted from his circus by Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), an European opera singer who appeals to Barnum as a genuine talent (and possible threat to his marriage).  And the other issues haven't vanished either...

There is so much to enjoy about The Greatest Showman.  The musical numbers are catchy, visually stunning, and engaging, and they fit in perfectly with the story.  Hugh Jackman plays Barnum perfectly, as a grandiose promoter and dreamer who's fine bucking society but who gets tripped up by actual success.  Zac Efron and Zendaya provide both a romantic subplot and a look at the racism of the time, and the rest of the cast is terrific.  The Greatest Showman embodies the best of the musical spectacle.

Overall grade: A
Reviewed by James Lynch

MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES

Call it "insane and insaner."  Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is a comedy where everything is loud, over the top, and pretty predictable.  The fact that it's loosely based on a true story doesn't diminish any of that at all.

Mike Stangle (Adam Levine) and his younger brother Dave (Zac Efron) are amazingly close: They live together, they work together selling beer, and they party together at all their family events.  The latter is is a problem, as they get each other worked up and wind up causing mayhem and destruction.

The latter is a problem for Mike and Dave's parents (Stephen Root, Stephanie Faracy), who are concerned that the brothers' antics will ruin the upcoming Hawaii wedding of their sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard) and Eric (Sam Richardson).  The parents want the brothers to bring "nice girls" to the wedding, to keep them calm.  Mike and Dave's Craigslist search for dates (offering a free trip to Hawaii) goes viral, even getting them an appearance on TV with Wendy Williams.

Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick) are best friends and wrecks: Alice is an emotional wreck after being left at the altar, and the pair are always drunk or stoned, broke, unemployed, living in squalor,and pretty much out of control.  They see Mike and Dave's offer as a free vacation, so they make themselves out to be nice girl (a teacher and a hedge fund manager) and get Mike and Dave to invite them to the wedding.

Once everyone's in Hawaii, things quickly get out of control.  Mike keeps pursuing Tatiana, who keeps him at arms length; she's also pursued by Cousin Terry (Alice Wetterlund), who has a rivalry with Mike.  Alice seems to be falling for Dave, but all the wedding festivities have her somewhat traumatized; she also somehow becomes best friends with Jeanie.  And while Tatiana and Alice are always drinking and cursing, somehow they're loved by all and the brothers get blamed for any problems.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is pretty much what many summer movies are but shouldn't be.  There is zero subtlety here, from Adam Levine shouts his lines to the most over-the-top sex scene since The Bronze to virtually all the characters curse up a storm from start to finish,  The story is utterly predictable (wacky hijinks, wedding in peril, self-awareness, redemption, happy ending) and none of the jokes are great or memorable.   I like a lot of the cast here, but the occasional chuckle doesn't make up for the majority of this movie.

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch

NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING

A sequel has to balance the line between continuing what people loved about its predecessor and providing something new to as not to appear to be a simple redoing of the saem formula.  Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising makes some superficial changes -- last time it was a fraternity next door, now it's a sorority! -- but settles for some borderline slapstick comedy.

Mac and Kelly Radner (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) seem to be growing up.  With their daughter growing and Kelly pregnant, they've sold their home and used the money to buy a new home in the suburbs.  However, their home sale is in escrow, meaning the buyers have 30 days to back out if they don't like anything about the house -- or its neighbors.

So of course there's a problem.  College freshman Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) is disappointed that sororities don't throw parties or allow weed to be smoked; she's also less than thrilled that fraternity parties are at best sexist and at worst rape-y.  So with friends Beth (Kiersey Clemons) and Nora (Beanie Feldstein), Shelby decided to create Kappa Nu, a sorority where women can be themselves and party like they want.  And of course, Shelby (somehow) gets the house next to the Radners for her sorority.  Worse, Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), the fraternity nemesis from the last movie, is stuck in the past and decides to help Kappa Nu make money to pay the rent and to throw epic parties -- until they kick him out, at which point he switches sides.

None of this makes any sense -- Who'd sell a house to a college freshman with no money or job?  How do a bunch of middle-aged folks infiltrate a college tailgate party, including someone dressed as a clown? Why would anyone think they could bribe someone with pocket change? -- but Neighbors 2 doesn't care about or bother with any of that.  While the movie theoretically concerns itself with sexism (sororities aren't allowed to do what fraternities are) and ageism (Zac Efron is lumped in with the "old people"), it's really concerned with cheap laughs.  There's drug humor, physical comedy, gross-out humor (a running joke about the Radners' daughter playing with mommy's dildo is one of the tamer jokes), reverse racism, Jewish jokes, both sides sabotaging the other, a gay wedding, and out-of-nowhere sentimentality and a feel-good ending,

To their credit, the cast does manage to get a decent amount of humor out of the situations so broadly laid out here.  Seth Rogen is his usual stoner self, Zac Efron spoofs himself as a loser who refuses to grow up, and Chloe Grace Moretz  balances being an independent girl on her own for the first time with being the scary menace next door.  But the movie is borderline sketch comedy, which tends to fall apart when you stop to think about it.  (Cameos by Selena Gomez, Kelsey Grammer, and Lisa Kudrow are pretty much unnecessary.)   Neighbors 2 can be funny, but it's also consistently stupid.

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch

NEIGHBORS

It's not easy getting older -- especially when a reminder of youth moves in next door.  This is the central idea, and source of conflict, with Neighbors, a comedy that's alternating thoughtful and juvenile.

Mac and Kelly Radner (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) are a married couple who are reluctant to grow up.  They're the first of their friends to have a house and a kid (six-month-old daughter Stella), they miss going out, and they consider taking Stella to a rave when they can't get a babysitter.  Their pride is their new house, which they sunk all their money into, and they hope to get a cool gay couple as neighbors.  What they get instead is a fraternity next door.

Teddy (Zac Efron) is the president of Delta Psi, and he and his second in command Pete (Dave Franco) are determined to make it onto their wall of fame with a legendary party.  Mac and Kelly and Teddy try bonding -- Mac and Kelly want to seem cool so Teddy will "keep it down" if things get too loud, Teddy thinks if they're friends early the frat can get away with more stuff later -- but after some hurt feelings (Teddy doesn't keep it down, so Mac calls the cops) they wind up in a virtual war.  Mac and Kelly want to get Delta Psi its three strikes so it's shut down, while Teddy and his friends work at making things miserable for Mac and Kelly while building to their epic party.

Neighbors is a mostly familiar and often funny take on opposites going against each other.  Seth Rogen gets to do his usual stoner humor, but Rose Bryne is terrific as the warring mother who doesn't want to be the responsible one and who can be just as juvenile and wily as her husband.  Zac Efron does well, although I suspect he was cast as much for his near-perfect body as for his comic timing.  The movie has plenty of gross-out gags (a dildo fight, a found condom), but there's also a generational issue: Mac and Kelly want to feel young even while needing a good night's sleep, while Teddy sees getting on his fraternity's wall as a lifetime achievement, even though Pete reminds him that they're graduating in a few weeks and it'll all be behind them.

Neighbors isn't consistently funny, but i\t has more than enough laughs to be entertaining.  And the generational issues and comic opportunities for Rose Byrne make it a little better than the average comedy.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch