Neighbors

This swansong for the John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd partnership is a flawed but fascinating stab by the comedians at breaking away from their traditional knockabout slapstick. The two stars even swap their usual comic personae, with Belushi playing a geeky, mild-mannered suburbanite who is slowly being driven mad by his crazy neighbours (Aykroyd and Cathy Moriarty). Larry Gelbart - who won an Emmy in 1974 for his contribution to TV's MASH - was reportedly unhappy with the changes made to his script (based on Thomas Berger's novel) and the black comic bite of the source book is blunted. Director John G Avildsen shows little affinity for the material, but Aykroyd and especially Belushi are excellent and make it worth a look.