“Neighbors” is the first raunchy, R-rated comedy of the summer and director Nicholas Stoller doesn’t disappoint. The movie is hilarious, the cast is well put together and it approaches the “frat party” cliche with fresh eyes.

“Neighbors” follows recent parents Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) and their new life as people responsible for the well-being of Stella, their daughter. After failing to keep up the partying lifestyle they loved before they were parents, they find that a fraternity has moved in next door. At first the new family and frat leaders Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco) get along, but soon the hard partying ways of the fraternity become too much for the couple, leading the two to plot a way to get the fraternity to move and for them to get their normal, albeit boring, lives back.

One thing that really surprised me in “Neighbors” was how well Rogen and Byrne worked as a comedic team. Rogen has years of comedic excellence under his belt, and Byrne has proven she can hack it with comedians in “Bridesmaids,” but together they make a believably irresponsible but strong couple. Efron and Franco also delivered a lot of funny moments as frat leaders Teddy and Pete, but I feel the normally funny Christopher Mintz-Plasse wasn’t given enough to do in his limited role as frat brother Scoonie. I also loved seeing comedian Hannibal Buress as Officer Watkins. He was only in the film for a few minutes, but Buress utilized them well.

I really appreciated that the film took a new angle on the traditional party movie. Byrne has a great moment in which she talks about how becoming a mother doesn’t make her not want to ever have fun again, and I thought that was a good perspective to show in a such a male-centric movie. She is just as irresponsible as Rogen’s character Mac, and that’s a refreshing view after the countless “dumb husband/mean wife” cliches that seem hard to get away from in the last few years.

“Neighbors” is well worth the price of admission. It’s funny, surprisingly sweet at times and you get to see Rose Byrne go way against type and take part in some gross-out humor. If you liked Stoller’s other films, such ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ or ‘Get Him to the Greek’, you will enjoy “Neighbors.”

4 out of 5 stars