Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
We love gay subtext here at Decider. After tackling the blatant chemistry between Ben-Hur and Messala in The Celluloid Closet, we’re here to take another stance in the name of queerness: why didn’t Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco) end up together in the Neighbors films? I’ll be completely honest, this one is kind of personal for me. I’ve spent more hours than I will ever be able to justify agonizing over the intricacies of this particular relationship. Did I imagine the subtext in my desperation for more gay leading characters on screen? Did I just kind of want to see Efron and Franco make out? While the answers to both of those questions might be a solid yes, obviously, I also don’t think I’m completely off-base here.
Gay subtext in film is absolutely nothing new, but the coining of the infamous bromance offered straight men a quick excuse when confronted with the realities of their friendships. You remember bromance, right? The storytelling device that allowed male characters to be super close but in a totally straight way, dude? The term has thankfully faded into relative obscurity in recent years, but the idea of it is still very much present in our culture, and Neighbors is a prime example of it. Although both Teddy and Pete are carefully coded as heterosexual, they also have the most intense, meaningful relationship in the entire film. There’s a scene where Pete has sex with Teddy’s girlfriend, and when Teddy is naturally furious, they attempt to fight it out by… grabbing each other’s balls. Both characters then launch into a strange gay panic when Pete gets an erection. Classic straight boy problems, right? The movie literally ends with the two confessing their love (platonically, of course) for each other. Teddy then gives Pete a kiss on the forehead before sacrificing himself, so to speak, by taking the fall for the out of control party so Pete won’t get in trouble.
It becomes even more frustrating in the sequel, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, which made the unlikely reveal that Pete is gay and engaged to his boyfriend, Darren, in the first thirty minutes. Teddy’s entire plot in the film hinges on him being terrified that Pete doesn’t value his presence in his life. After Pete gets engaged, he literally runs down the street barefoot and sobbing. The film ends, once again, with them confessing their love for each other (platonically, of course) at Pete’s wedding. Which Teddy planned. I mean… come on.
Let’s get two things out of the way. First of all, no one is saying men can’t just be friends and leave it at that, as is often the argument that arises when questions like this are raised. Secondly, if one of these characters were female, I wouldn’t even be writing this article. The thing is, Neighbors 2 really did take several steps in the right direction. By having an unapologetically feminist message and deciding to write Pete as gay, it broke down some serious fraternity/sorority storytelling conventions. The problem is, though, Pete’s arc felt like half a story. Nicholas Stoller, the director, even said that the reason they wrote Pete as gay had been because of the very clear “homoerotic tension” from the first film. It seemed clear that the movie had simply been afraid to “go there” with a character played by someone like Efron, who has come to represent a symbol of heterosexual masculinity over the course of his career.
If I’m being honest, it felt lazy. It felt like an easy way out. Would anything bad have happened if they’d just let those poor boys get together? Of course not. It actually would have been lovely to see Teddy’s story wrapped up with the realization that the reason he’s spent 100% of his time so viscerally upset about the idea of Pete getting married is because he’s been in love with him the whole damn time. It would have been an important moment – a mainstream movie not taking the easy way out, and driving home the sentiment that gay characters don’t always have to be Gay Characters. Sometimes they can just be two frat bros who really care about each other. Imagine that!
