Critic Reviews

HBO’s new docuseries Neighbors is billed, at least in some quarters, as a comedy, but it’s the most sobering non-news content I’ve seen on my TV in a while.

It isn’t always fun to watch, but “Neighbors” is never not compelling.

“Neighbors” has a bad tendency to gawk at its subjects; it often uses 360-degree camera effects, for instance, to convey characters’ agitation or decompensation. But it also has a curiosity and a belief, not unlike “How to With John Wilson,” that everyone is potentially interesting and worthy of empathy.

Some of the incidents that begin the disputes are a bit confusing. .... But some are so “normal” they’re crystal clear. .... It’s disputes like the ones in the second episode that feel more real to us.

The characters are objects of morbid curiosity or, maybe, pathos. But certainly not envy. The series is a guilty kind of pleasure, though the pleasure is mostly grounded in a realization that you are not them.

While there is undoubtedly some “Tiger King”-grade entertainment observing a conspiracy theorist verbally spar with a “Lord of the Rings” cosplayer, so much of the behavior displayed in “Neighbors” is unpleasant to behold.

Less inviting and contemplative than aggressive and giddy, its priority isn’t to ask the audience to step outside their own perspective and examine how their behavior may contribute to similar hostilities. It’s to dig up and amplify conflict — a provocative design that holds attention, but offers far less to ponder than Safdie’s other, more dynamic projects.

There’s substance, but it’s buried in salaciousness.