Angry Neighbors (2022) Review

rating: ****

the story: A writer seeking to lead a secluded life feels infringed upon by a neighbor's ongoing development project.

review: Not being overly involved in the streaming world (previously I was never overly involved in the cable world), I still participate in physical media, which is why I frequent Redbox kiosks, which is why I knew about the existence of Angry Neighbors, which exists well outside the mainstream despite starring Frank Langella.  Langella's career is been that way all along, of course, rarely appearing in movies people have actually seen, but otherwise being well-respected.  The closest he's come to a starring role with critical acclaim is probably Frost/Nixon.  I had recently seen him in the Jim Carrey TV series Kidding, and Angry Neighbors, on a superficial level, resembles those results closely enough where I would endorse it for that alone, a quirky production featuring Langella.  (The last time ones of his films got noticed was Robot & Frank, in which he stars opposite, obviously, a robot.)

The only chatter surrounding Neighbors stemmed from the original source material, which drew on the woes of other pampered residents of wealthy waterfront property, which was of interest mostly to them.  Everyone else was left to scratch their head over the title, which surely evoked Grumpy Old Men if anything, and yet Langella's antagonist doesn't show up until the end (it turns into a metaphor of lost youth, I think), and he instead plays off others caught up in his struggles, including Bobby Cannavale playing the foreman in charge of the worksite unhappily afflicting him.

There's also, of course, Langella's dog, who speaks to him in the voice of Cheech Marin, personifying his closed world.  If Langella and the narration and style of production weren't pitched enough, Marin's part cements the film's intentions.  I have no idea why Neighbors would drop straight into obscurity (except, perhaps, allegations against Langella, which is such an old Hollywood story one wonders why the studios still get away with it except for the existence of endlessly compliant press).  Spend some time in Langella's company.  Don't worry if anyone else is, or if his character would approve of your choices.  This would be an excellent one.