Neighbors [Blu-ray]

Director: John G. Avildsen John G. Avildsen

Overview

No one knows what evil lurks with the folks next door in this black comedy. Earl Keese (John Belushi) is a middle-aged suburbanite whose life is dull and uneventful, and that's just the way he likes it, though his wife, Enid (Kathryn Walker), isn't quite so happy. Earl soon learns that a new couple has just moved into the house next door, loudly leisure-suited Vic (Dan Aykroyd) and sexy Ramona (Cathy Moriarty). Earl is at once thrilled and terrified when Ramona unexpectedly attempts to seduce him, and he is quite puzzled when Vic and Ramona stop by for dinner the following evening and Ramona angrily accuses Earl of trying to take advantage of her. After an argument, Vic offers to make peace by buying dinner from a take-out restaurant. When Earl spies Vic cooking the meal in his kitchen a few minutes later, he realizes that his new neighbors are playing some sort of game with him, though he's not sure what or why. Neighbors marked the third and final screen pairing of Saturday Night Live stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd; Belushi died of a drug overdose three months after the film's release.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/01/2016
UPC:	0043396491144
Original Release:	1981
Rating:	R
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	23,916

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Belushi	Earl Keese
Dan Aykroyd	Vic
Cathy Moriarty	Ramona
Kathryn Walker	Enid Keese
Igors Gavon	Chic
Tim Kazurinsky	Pa Greavy
Tino Insana	Perry
P.J. Brown	Police,Actor
Henry Judd Baker	Police
Lauren-Marie Taylor	Elaine Keese,Elaine Keese
Dale Two Eagle	Thundersky
Sherman G. Lloyd	Fireman
Bert Kittel	Fireman
J.B. Friend	Fireman
Bernie Friedman	Fireman
Edward Kotkin	Fireman
Michael Manoogian	Fireman
Dru-Ann Chuckran	His Wife
Bill Conti	Composer

Technical Credits

Larry Gelbart

John G. Avildsen	Director
Bernie Brillstein	Executive Producer
David Brown	Producer
Irving Paul Lazar	Executive Producer
Richard D. Zanuck	Producer
Larry Gelbart	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Director John G. Avildsen's deliberate miscasting of Saturday Night Live legends Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi was greeted with skepticism and piddling box-office receipts upon Neighbors' release in 1981. Years removed from its belly flop, however, the black comedy -- uneven as it is -- stands as a testament to Belushi's skill, proving that he could play a seething, constipated suburbanite as well as he could command attention as a loose-cannon hedonist. Blessed with a devious script by Tootsie scribe Larry Gelbart, Neighbors provides an effective, if self-satisfied, swipe at settling down, and it doesn't lose the courage of its satirical convictions, as proved by the film's blessedly ironic denouement. Unfortunately, Aykroyd makes a particularly enervating thorn in Belushi's side, and Avildsen tends to play up the slapstick set pieces at the expense of the film's more low-key material (the kind Belushi excels at in the opening scenes). Stunt-casting comedies like this always derive their laughs from the tension of watching an unnaturally bottled-up lead performer and waiting for the inevitable eruption. But, in Neighbors, Belushi disappears so completely into his role, it's almost disappointing to watch him flip his lid.

All Movie Guide - Michael Hastings