Zac Efron's faded fratboy lends unexpected poignancy to this raucous, unexpectedly of-the-moment comedy sequel.

Considering it’s another trouble-in-suburbia comedy of modest proportions, boasting no innovations in form or technique, it may seem odd to say that “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” couldn’t — or at least wouldn’t — have been made a mere decade ago. Yet a distinctly current engagement with identity politics colors and complicates Nicholas Stoller’s rampantly rude, rowdy sequel to 2014’s squares-vs.-students farce: With sly sorority girls having replaced lunkheaded fratboys as the collective nemesis of Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne’s harried, hip-no-more homeowners, the film has a knowingly conflicted engagement with millennial-generation feminism that freshens its outlook even as it unevenly rejigs many of its predecessor’s gags. Still, while a subtly clawed Chloë Grace Moretz proves a worthy new foil, it’s Zac Efron’s tragicomic anatomy of a dudebro that remains this series’ sharpest asset.

Though its ribald antics (not to mention Efron’s copious and formidable shirtlessness) drew a sizable younger demographic, the original “Neighbors” was fundamentally a film steeped in thirtysomething ennui: Its warmest, wiliest comedy captured the deflating self-recognition of those comfortably too young for middle age, yet emphatically too old to be down with the kids. That sneaky sense of generational limbo also sits at the heart of this slightly less-cuddly sequel, though its hapless victim has changed. While middle-class marrieds Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Byrne) have settled contentedly into early parenthood, former college fraternity leader Teddy (Efron) is struggling to find his place in the world — even his low-ambition retail job at Abercrombie & Fitch has turned on him, demanding that the still-ripped underachiever now wear a shirt to work. What else can Teddy offer the world, if not his abs?

More mortifyingly still, Teddy’s former Delta Psi brothers all appear to have grown up faster than he has. With his best friend and roommate Pete (Dave Franco) newly engaged to be married — to another ex-fratboy, in a socially progressive twist the film happily handles in wholly snicker-free fashion — Teddy finds himself lacking not just a raison d’être, but a roof over his head. Unlikely sanctuary emerges at the very site of his glory days, now home to Kappa Nu, a fledgling “house of united women” founded by snarky, weed-smoking outlier Shelby (Moretz) as an alternative to the no-drugs/no-gluten/no-fun doctrine enforced by a cameoing Selena Gomez’s prissy sorority leader. Outraged by the sexist double standards of typical college-dorm culture, Shelby enlists Teddy’s hedonistic expertise to help prove that sorority girls can party just as hard as fratboys, and on their own terms.

Kappa Nu’s feminist rebellion may hew closer to the “Spring Breakers” playbook than to the suffragette one, though the women do succeed in making Teddy reassess the “bros before hoes” code. (The term “hoes,” he repeats as if imparting revelatory wisdom, is “not cool.”) Notionally empowering as Kappu Nu’s remix of Cyndi Lauper’s “girls just wanna have fun” directive may be, it’s very bad news indeed for on-the-move neighbors Mac and Kelly, whose plans to swiftly sell their house are scuppered by the raucous activity next door. The setup may be different from the first film, then, but the upshot is the same, as much of the running time is given over to a prankish war of wills between young adults and their elders — who find that smart sorority girls make far feistier enemies than jocks of Teddy’s ilk.

The film’s cheerfully scattershot script (by returning “Neighbors” scribes Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien, with added input this time from Rogen and Stoller) is most interesting in the ambivalence of its sympathies. Shelby’s sisterhood validly calls out mainstream society’s sanitized female ideals, yet also exploits social justice to coldly antisocial effect; Mac and Kelly, meanwhile, have their share of liberal blind spots, exposed in a handful of blunt, deliberately grimace-inducing gags that skate the boundaries of racism and anti-Semitism. Some viewers will chuckle sheepishly as Orthodox Jews are blithely burlesqued, while others may take a stonier stance. In a film that finds its own characters debating the limits and applications of political correctness — “There’s no such thing as reverse sexism, Mr. White Man,” a woman tells Mac — a degree of contentiousness seems intended.

That no one has an entirely solid leg to stand on in this particular dispute is what keeps the narrative salty, even as it wobbles in the midsection with a couple of strained high-farce set pieces. A labored series of text-message miscommunications builds to a rather muted punchline, while a frenetically paced marijuana heist (extending Rogen’s ongoing commitment to pro-cannabis comedy) is more breathless than hilarious — notwithstanding the sight of Rogen’s quivering belly painted with the Sharpie-thick stomach muscles of a Ninja Turtle.

“Neighbors 2” is often funniest in its incidental observations of social embarrassment and ineptitude: The delightful Rose Byrne, now an established secret weapon in studio comedy, scores the film’s purest laugh with a botched bribery of college dean Lisa Kudrow (granted just one scene — always a dozen too few where Kudrow is concerned) more exquisitely excruciating than most of its more elaborate gross-out gambits. (Not that an introductory scene of mid-coital morning sickness will be easily wiped from the brain.) Despite its high-concept absurdity, “Neighbors 2” remains a character comedy at heart, scrutinizing its characters’ pile-up of errors with empathy if not total forgiveness.

So it’s a neat trick that its most vacant figure has somehow become its most touching: Efron, a gifted comic performer who has learned to wield his unblemished physical beauty as a kind of punchline, plays dumb with deadpan elegance (“There’s no ‘I’ in sorority,” he enthuses, with perfect conviction), but also a hint of echoing desperation. Perhaps, after all its provocative muddling of identity politics, this messy but lively sequel does come down on the side of the handsome straight white male — but if so, it’s a pity vote at best.

Watching the trailers for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising – which looks “raucous” – you’d probably never expect the film to be some sort of surprise cultural landmark for a) comedy sequels in general and b) the greater social good of society. I honestly can’t believe I just wrote that last sentence. I honestly can’t believe Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising exists in this fashion, as something that’s “good for the world.” I expected some laughs. I laughed a lot during the first movie. But this movie is a comedy with something to say.

(Are there such things as Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising spoilers? If so, I guess this is your sort of warning. I’m going to discuss some things that happen at the beginning of the movie that drives the plot.)

A major character from the first film, Pete (Dave Franco), is gay. We didn’t know that during the events of the first film, but it’s revealed to us early on in this sequel when his fiancé proposes to him during a poker game. It’s actually a nice, sweet scene. Automatically, my “cringe sensor” (for lack of a better term) kicked in, waiting for some tired and dumb “gay panic” type jokes, but they never came. But just as important, it also drives the plot. Now that Pete’s fiancé is moving in, that means Teddy (Zac Efron) – whose post-college career is fledgling — he works retail at some sort of clothing store — now has to find a new place to live.

Here’s another interesting and welcome aspect to this movie I wasn’t expecting: Feminism. Shelby (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a freshman in college who rejects the fraternity meatheads who throw all the parties on campus. She wants independence. She wants to throw and attend parties that don’t have to conform to what the “frat boys” want. Teaming with her two friends Beth (Kiersey Clemons) and Nora (Beanie Feldstein), they decide to start their own sorority in which their ideals can be recognized. In the first film, what the guys wanted was dumb. In this movie, what the girls want is noble. And this makes the story so much more complicated and compelling.

Long story short, Teddy needs a place to live and the women need someone who knows how to start a college Greek organization. But then Shelby and company soon tire of listening to what Teddy has to say, so they dump him, too.

(An entire essay could probably be written about the age differences in this film. In the first film, Teddy and Seth Rogen’s Mac didn’t seem that different. They bonded over Batman, at least at first. When Teddy is trying to communicate with Shelby, Teddy seems about 120 years old.)

While all this is going on, Mac and Kelly (Rose Byrne) still live next door to the old Delta Psi Beta fraternity, which is now being transformed into the Kappa Kappu Nu sorority. They have a 30-day escrow on their home and try to make a deal with the sorority to just not throw any parties until the 30 days are up. Shelby’s point is the whole reason they live there is so they don’t have to listen to what men have to say about what parties they throw. This is a valid point!

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising is going to surprise a lot of people who just think it’s going to be a “dumb sequel.” Again, the trailers are kind of pushing that notion, which I’m positive is by design. Yet, here it is: the progressive, raunchy comedy we’ve all been waiting for. I mean…. Jerrod Carmichael’s character is now a cop and he’s partnered with an intense Training Day-type cop, played by Hannibal Buress – this movie takes the time to address the Black Lives Matter movement.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising reminded me a little bit of Gremlins 2, in that it’s almost a meta statement on itself. The movie itself is not meta like Gremlins 2, but it’s very self-aware of its 2016 audience. And this whole movie is almost a statement about the jokes they made two years ago that they couldn’t possibly make now. But not a gross Dirty Grandpa, “the world is too politically correct so I’m going to say something offensive” type way. The people who wrote this movie are way too smart for that. (It is kind of crazy that Zac Efron is in both the most offensive comedy of the year and, here, the smartest and most progressive.)

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising still has a fun raunchiness to it, but it’s very aware of what year this is and fits right into today’s social climate – and it’s better off for doing so. In a world in which so many comedy sequels fail, here comes a comedy sequel that isn’t just “as good as the first movie,” it’s even better. And, honestly, I can’t think of a better comedy sequel. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising may just be the best.

If you scroll through a list of stoner comedies you’ll come across plenty of brazenly daft adventures featuring boys getting up to all kinds of antics. It’s only recently that this trend is beginning to be bucked, with the arrival of shows like Broad City (whose co-creator Abbi Jacobson appears in this film) paving the way for girls wanting to have some fun. And just as The To Do List irreverently approached how teenage girls really feel about sex Bad Neighbours 2 highlights the prevalence and absurdity of sexism in a hilarious way.

Madison (Selena Gomez) and her sorority sisters are introduced prancing around like little angelic figures to the bemusement of prospective pledge Shelby (Chloë Grace Moretz, having the best time). When they explain to the new group of recruits that it’s against the rules for a sorority to throw a booze-fuelled party but fraternities can do what they like the incoming generation are outraged by the revelation.

Soon Shelby and a couple of other feminist renegades have set up their own independent sorority, creating a bacchanalian utopia where they can get drunk, smoke weed and watch The Fault in Our Stars sans judgement. Unfortunately, they just so happen to have rented the same place where Teddy (Zac Efron) reigned havoc over the Radners (Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen) in the original. The Radners are now in the final stages of selling their house and want the sorority out sharpish, while Teddy – who is going through a sulky, Billy Hicks from St Elmo’s Fire phase – is on hand to offer the girls advice. When they turn on him, Teddy teams up with the Radners and ignites a drug war between the two factions.

The comedic timing from the cast, particularly Byrne and Efron, is spot on, as is the empowering message to young women that hits a similar beat to the egalitarian world imagined in Magic Mike XXL. Meanwhile, the team of (male) writers – which includes Rogen and returning director Nicholas Stoller – ensure that a good time is had by all, with gross-out gags and slapstick galore creating a manic energy that will leave you wanting to dance the funk elastic.