“With the sorority girls, it’s like a glimpse into their daughter’s future, and it terrifies them,” actress Rose Byrne told EW earlier this year. She’s talking about the sorority sisters in “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” who are the new antagonists in the sequel to the Seth Rogen and Zac Efron-starring 2014 comedy, “Neighbors.”
READ MORE: SXSW Review: ‘Neighbors’ Starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron & Rose Byrne
That film pitted 30-somethings with a baby (Rogen and Byrne) grappling with no longer being cool —their obnoxious next door neighbors are a fraternity that they run afoul of. With a new baby on the way, the couple have to struggle with a new set of neighbors devaluing the house they want to sell: a wild sorority run by Chloë Grace Moretz. To fight fire with fire, they enlist their old adversary (Efron). Yes, it’s a bit of a ridiculous concept, but “Neighbors” was a fun enough concept and the same creative team, including director Nicholas Stoller and original writers Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien, are back. Here’s the official synopsis:
Now that Mac (Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Byrne) have a second baby on the way, they are ready to make the final move into adulthood: the suburbs. But just as they thought they’d reclaimed the neighborhood and were safe to sell, they learn that the new occupants next door are a sorority even more out of control than Teddy (Efron) and his brothers ever dreamed of being.
Tired of their school’s sexist, restrictive system, the unorthodox ladies of Kappa Nu have decided to start a house where they can do whatever the hell they want. When Shelby (Moretz) and her sisters, Beth (Kiersey Clemons) and Nora (Beanie Feldstein), find the perfect place just off campus, they won’t let the fact that it’s located on a quiet street stand in their way of parties as epic as the guys throw.
Forced to turn to the one ex-neighbor with the skills to bring down the new Greeks next door, the Radners—alongside best friends Jimmy (Ike Barinholtz) and Paula (Carla Gallo)—bring in charismatic Teddy as their secret weapon. If he can infiltrate the sorority and charm his way through it, the thirtysomethings will shutter the Kappas’ home. But if they think that their neighbors are going down without a fight, they have severely underestimated the power of youthful ingenuity and straight-up crazy.
"Neighbors 2" also co-stars Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz, Carla Gallo, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kiersey Clemons, Beanie Feldstein, Selena Gomez and Lisa Kudrow, and lands in theaters on May 20th. Watch the new trailer below.