Fenced In (Vizinhos) Movie Review: A Very Brazilian Neighbor Feud

What Is Fenced In (Vizinhos) About?

Walter, played by Leandro Hassum, is already overwhelmed before the main neighbor conflict begins. He works around constant noise and suffers a nervous collapse. The film’s official synopsis states that doctors warn him that very loud sounds could put his health at serious risk, so he leaves Rio de Janeiro with his wife, Joana, in search of peace in a small town.

The supposedly peaceful new home becomes a problem as soon as Walter meets Toninho, played by Maurício Manfrini. Toninho is not simply a neighbor who enjoys an occasional loud party: he is a mestre de bateria for a samba school. Music, rehearsals, parties, family activity, and noise are built into the household next door.

From there, the film follows a familiar comedy structure. Walter wants silence. Toninho sees his own behavior as normal and joyful rather than malicious. Attempts to solve the conflict do not calm things down; they create new problems and increasingly absurd confrontations.

That basic premise is stronger than the two older versions of our review suggested. The comedy is not really about deciding whether “quiet people” or “loud people” are morally right. Its engine is that these two men are almost perfectly designed to make one another miserable.

The Film’s Real Comic Idea: Neither Man Thinks He Is the Villain

One useful point from the earlier TBW articles was the contrast between Walter and Toninho. In the new version, however, it is important not to turn that contrast into a simplistic lesson about “social harmony.” The filmmakers are primarily trying to make a broad comedy.

Leandro Hassum himself described the central conflict in a 2022 interview by saying that neither protagonist is meant to be evil. Walter reacts badly because noise has become a serious health concern for him. Toninho, meanwhile, is exuberant and invasive but does not understand himself as someone deliberately tormenting a neighbor.

That is a useful comic setup because the audience can move between the two perspectives. Walter’s need for quiet is easy to understand. Toninho’s personality is also recognizable: he is sociable, festive, proud of his samba-school role, and convinced that his energy is part of what makes life enjoyable.

The problem is that the film often abandons the ambiguity as soon as a bigger gag becomes available. Characters become more exaggerated, Walter becomes more frantic, and situations become less like real neighbor disputes and more like live-action cartoons.

Leandro Hassum and Maurício Manfrini: Two Performers Working at Full Volume

The movie is built around Leandro Hassum and Maurício Manfrini, and both actors understand the type of comedy they are making. Hassum has long worked in an expansive physical-comedy register, while Manfrini brings the performance style associated with his popular comic work as Paulinho Gogó.

When the rivalry works, it works because the actors commit completely to opposite needs: Walter tries to control an environment that will not obey him, while Toninho behaves as though every new escalation can be absorbed into the party.

When it does not work, the same intensity becomes exhausting. Several critics made this point when the film was released. Omelete argued that the direction leaves too little breathing room for the comedy and turns the story into a sequence of loosely connected sketches, while Decider characterized the experience as noisy and irritating. Rotten Tomatoes lists only a very small number of professional reviews, but even that limited group is sharply divided.

That critical disagreement is worth acknowledging. One positive review highlighted the movie’s old-fashioned frivolity, while the harsher responses found the constant shouting and slapstick grating. Our view falls somewhere in the middle: the performers have energy and clear comic identities, but the film rarely trusts a joke to remain small.

What Our Older Reviews Got Right — and What Needed Correction

How Brazilian Is This Neighbor Feud?

The film knowingly localizes a very old comedy premise: two incompatible neighbors turning a minor dispute into a personal war. In an interview before release, Hassum said the filmmakers wanted their version of this familiar setup to feel specifically Brazilian, citing samba, barbecue, and a more expansive style of neighborhood interaction.

That intention is visible. Toninho being a samba-school percussion leader is not a random profession. It allows the sound itself to become part of the comic identity of the family. The backyard, parties, music, food, relatives, and constant social activity create a deliberately maximalist contrast with Walter’s fantasy of absolute silence.

For foreign viewers, though, a distinction matters: the movie uses Brazilian cultural references as comic material, not as ethnography. Real Brazilian neighborhoods vary enormously by city, region, class, housing type, age, and community. The film amplifies recognizable elements because exaggeration is the point.

This is especially important for language learners. A comedy can teach you useful words and cultural references without being a reliable guide to how “Brazilians are.”

Samba School Vocabulary: What Does Mestre de Bateria Mean?

One of the most useful cultural details in the film is Toninho’s role as a mestre de bateria.

In the context of a Brazilian samba school, bateria does not mean a battery. It refers to the percussion section. The mestre de bateria is the leader responsible for directing that section and coordinating its performance.

This makes Toninho’s relationship with noise more than a personality joke. Rhythm and percussion are literally part of his musical identity.

The Supporting Cast Helps Create the Two-Household Contrast

Júlia Rabello plays Joana, Walter’s wife, while Marlei Cevada plays Kelly, Toninho’s wife. Julia Foti and Lucas Leto are also part of the central family ensemble. The production company’s official credits list these performers alongside Hassum and Manfrini.

The two older TBW articles described Joana as calm and Kelly as extravagant. That is broadly consistent with the contrast the movie constructs, but the new review avoids treating the women only as personality extensions of their husbands. Joana often functions as a moderating presence around Walter, while Kelly belongs fully to Toninho’s more expansive social world.

The younger generation also creates connections across the property line, which prevents the rivalry from remaining a completely sealed conflict between two adult men. The movie repeatedly finds ways to make the households more entangled than Walter would like.

Does the Movie Have Something to Say About Noise and Coexistence?

Yes, but less profoundly than our previous articles claimed.

The premise naturally raises questions about boundaries. How much should one household adjust its behavior for another? When does ordinary enjoyment become disturbance? How should someone respond when a neighbor’s lifestyle is incompatible with their own needs?

Those questions are present because the plot cannot avoid them. Hassum also said during promotion that the story deals with family, care, optimism, and the ability to change one’s mind.

But Fenced In is not primarily interested in calmly exploring the ethics of urban coexistence. Its preferred method is escalation: a reasonable disagreement becomes a stunt, the stunt becomes retaliation, and retaliation becomes a larger comic disaster.

So the film’s lesson about compromise is real, but it arrives after nearly two hours of people doing the opposite.

The Main Weakness: The Comedy Rarely Knows When to Stop

If there is one criticism that appears repeatedly in professional reviews, it is excess.

Omelete argued that potentially strong comic conflicts are rushed through with a cartoonish directing style and broken into disconnected sketches. Decider was even more negative, objecting to the volume and abrasiveness of the humor. Other reviewers were more forgiving and saw the film as uncomplicated escapist entertainment.

Our own assessment is that the movie’s best scenes are often the simplest ones: Walter realizes that the peaceful life he imagined is impossible, Toninho misunderstands the seriousness of Walter’s problem, or the two men try to impose incompatible ideas of normal behavior on the same small space.

The film becomes weaker when every new scene has to be louder, stranger, or more physically extreme than the previous one. At 110 minutes, the repetition is noticeable.

That Does Not Mean the Film “Fails” for Its Intended Audience

It would also be unfair to review Fenced In as though it were trying to be a restrained character comedy.

Hassum explicitly described his comedy as popular and aimed at a mass audience. The movie embraces recognizable types, physical humiliation, shouting, escalating misunderstandings, animals, parties, bodily comedy, and sentiment. It wants immediate reactions rather than subtle ambiguity.

If that style already works for you, the film delivers exactly what its premise promises. If Leandro Hassum’s more expansive comic register tends to tire you, Fenced In is unlikely to change your mind.

Is Fenced In Useful for Learning Brazilian Portuguese?

Yes, with the right expectations.

The story is easy to follow because the conflict is visually obvious, which can help intermediate learners stay oriented even when they miss lines of dialogue. The movie also contains everyday vocabulary related to family, houses, neighbors, arguments, music, parties, irritation, and requests.

At the same time, the performances are deliberately exaggerated. People shout, interrupt, react intensely, and speak inside chaotic scenes. That makes parts of the film harder for listening practice than a quiet drama.

A useful approach is to watch once for entertainment, then return to two or three calmer scenes with Portuguese subtitles. Instead of collecting isolated words, write down complete expressions used to complain, ask someone to stop doing something, apologize, disagree, or react to a problem.

For a broader study strategy, see our guide to the best way to learn Brazilian Portuguese. If you want more context on where a popular Netflix comedy fits into the larger national tradition, read our history of Brazilian cinema.

Should You Watch Fenced In?

If you want a light Brazilian Netflix comedy and already enjoy Leandro Hassum, it is an easy recommendation to sample. The premise is clear, the cultural setting is specific, and you will hear plenty of Brazilian Portuguese in a contemporary comic context.

If you are looking for a sophisticated satire about neighborhood conflict, however, this is not that film. The previous TBW reviews overstated its depth by repeatedly describing the story as a meaningful reflection on harmony and conflict resolution. Those ideas exist, but the movie is first and foremost a broad farce.

That distinction actually makes the film easier to evaluate fairly. Fenced In is not unsuccessful because it lacks subtlety; subtlety is clearly not its goal. The real question is whether its chosen comic register remains funny for 110 minutes. For us, the answer is mixed.

The central Hassum–Manfrini rivalry has enough energy to sustain a shorter, tighter comedy. At feature length, the escalating gags become uneven. Still, the film has value for viewers interested in contemporary Brazilian popular comedy, Netflix’s Brazilian productions, or Portuguese-language entertainment that does not require extensive historical or political background.

Frequently Asked Questions