Earl (John Belushi) is a middle-aged, buttoned down, suburban drone living in his perfect house which sits on a dead end street, an apt metaphor for his state of mind. He lives there with his wife Enid who seems indifferent to her husband and generally aloof while their daughter is a punk that comes home after being expelled from school for theft. Even the TV seems to be against Earl. One night, two new neighbors, Vic (Dan Aykroyd) and Ramona (Cathy Moriarty), move into the only other house on the street and open up Earl’s eyes to what has been missing in his life.
I’ve always loved this movie. It predates Joe Dante’s The Burbs by several years which also deals with suburban paranoia. It was based on the novel by Thomas Berger who also wrote Little Big Man. There are some differences between book and novel; Vic was originally named Harry and overall it was more a comedy of manners. The movie is played as black comedy and has a surrealistic weirdness that suits my tastes. Bill Conti’s score is great as it uses Horror cues, throws in a little of the Twilight Zone theme and treats the movie like it was a Looney Toons cartoon.
From all accounts, filming was a Disaster, the script was constantly being re-written, the actors wanted rid of Director John G. Avildsen (Rocky, The Karate Kid) and Belushi even tried to get John Landis to take over but he refused. This also has the distinction of being Belushi’s last movie before dying of a drug overdose.
In the end, the movie was a hit and it’s also my favorite Belushi/Aykroyd collaboration. The films genius is in the casting. Originally, Belushi and Aykroyd were supposed to play each others roles, Dan as the stuck up suburbanite with John as the crazy neighbor. They decided to swap parts and I think the switch is what makes Neighbors unique and a fitting testament to the actor’s abilities of playing against type.
Oh and Cathy Moriarty was never hotter.
