There Goes the Neighborhood is a crime comedy that spins a twisting heist story out of suburban monotony as mild-mannered prison psychologist Willis Embry (Jeff Daniels) carries out the request of retrieving $8.5 million of Mafia money for a recently deceased inmate, he unwittingly ignites a mad chase for hidden loot across an otherwise quiet cul-de-sac.
Suddenly, the bland comfort of middle-class life becomes ground zero for a chaotic scramble involving petty criminals, anxious neighbors, and one very persistent ex-con’s secret.
The film’s ensemble is part of its charm and comic rhythm.
Catherine O’Hara brings sly, neurotic energy as Willis’s increasingly exasperated suburban counterpart, while Hector Elizondo, Harris Yulin, Jonathan Banks, and Chazz Palminteri fill out a rogues’ gallery of opportunists and would-be master villains.
Rhea Perlman and Dabney Coleman contribute scene-stealing support, embodying the mix of greed and absurdity that defines the movie’s tone.
Jeremy Piven and Judith Ivey round out the cast, both delivering perfectly timed reactions to the growing neighborhood mayhem.
What unfolds is part farce, part screwball caper — an accidental crime spree that plays like a suburban echo of Ruthless People or The ’Burbs.
The film’s humor often leans on misunderstandings and comic reversals rather than slapstick, and its clever pacing keeps multiple subplots colliding until everyone finds themselves in much deeper trouble than they ever expected.
Daniels anchors it all with his trademark blend of bemused intelligence and hapless charm, making Willis a relatable everyman caught in a storm of greed and absurdity.
Bill Phillips made his directorial debut with this film.
Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara in There Goes the Neighborhood (Photo/Paramount Pictures)
Reception for There Goes the Neighborhood
Though modestly received on release, There Goes the Neighborhood has since earned small cult affection as a time capsule of early ’90s suburban comedy — a genre that thrived on turning ordinary American life into a comic battleground.
For fans of ensemble-driven comedies and quirky capers, it offers a smart cast doing deceptively silly material with conviction and wit.
Its tone, wedged between satire and farce, anticipates the kind of neighborhood chaos comedies that would follow in later years, with its DNA traceable to both The Ladykillers and Arsenic and Old Lace — just reimagined for a cul-de-sac crawling with crooks.
Legacy
There Goes the Neighborhood may not have found blockbuster status, but it remains a refreshingly unpretentious reminder that even quiet streets can hide wild ambitions — and that in suburbia, everyone’s got something buried in the yard.
