LOATHE THY NEIGHBOR: 3 STARS. “movie spreads some good, neighborly vibes.”
SYNOPSIS: “Loathe Thy Neighbor” sees a recently relocated city slicker in a battle of wills with his new country neighbor. “Lost my father, lost my job,” says Will Larkfield (Brennan Clost), “and now I’m losing my mind.”
CAST: Lauren Holly, Brennan Clost, Shaun Benson, Brittany Raymond, Paloma Nuñez, Jessica Greco, Luke Humphrey, Patrice Goodman. Directed by Sergio Navarretta.
REVIEW: A dark riff on “Green Acres,” “Loathe Thy Neighbor” is more than the standard fish-out-of-water story. What begins as a “citidiot” in the country tale, slowly reveals itself to be a lesson in community and personal growth.
When Will Larkfield (Brennan Clost) inherits his estranged father’s rundown farm he sticks out like a sore thumb in the rural community. Vegetraian, allergic to everything and anxiety-prone, the locals don’t quite know what to make of him. They refer to him as him an “aristocrat,” and regard him with suspicion. No one more so than his next-door neighbor/bee-keeper Wanda Bellerose (Lauren Holly), who takes an instant, intense dislike to the city slicker. “He moved here a couple of days ago and he’s already ruining my damn life,” she says.
As a dispute over the mis-delivery of an EpiPen escalates, Will takes to referring to Wanda as a deranged lunatic,” while she calls him a “Yuppie on a stick,” and threatens to “roast [him] like a holiday ham.”
And that’s before things turn really ugly between the two.
Character-driven, “Loathe Thy Neighbor” plays on established tropes—the neurotic city guy vs. the tough-as-nails country person—to set up the story of petty grievances, nasty neighbors and, ultimately, growth and resilience.
Clost and Holly embrace their edgy characters. Constant conflict fuels their behavior, pushing them to extremes, but, as good as they are, it plays as one dimensional. It’s a clash of cultures, city vs. country, and when the insults are flying, it’s a bit of fun, but the level of animosity is never truly examined. They fundamentally just don’t like one another, and the film doesn’t dig much deeper than that before setting up its rushed redemption arc.
Still, as a story of putting aside our differences and learning to co-exist, “Loathe Thy Neighbor” spreads some good, neighborly vibes.
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