While a film such as this will naturally have its funny moments, overall “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” suffers from the same over-the-top vulgarity and absurd party-sex humor as the film writers’ previous work, “Neighbors” (1 and 2), and in the end isn’t worth a trip to the theaters. The cast, made up of Zac Efron, Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, and Stephen Root go all in on their comedic performances, but it's not enough to save the film from poor dialogue and nothing but dirty humor.
Wild brothers Michael (DeVine) and David Stangle (Efron) have a bad habit of spoiling their family get-togethers. When they receive the invitation for their sisters wedding in Hawaii, their family requests that they bring dates in the hopes of keeping them calm for a change. The brothers quickly post on Craigslist and find their way on "The Wendy Williams Show" after getting a great deal of feedback from their offer.
At the same time, wild and unstable girls, Tatiana (Plaza) and Alice (Kendrick) are looking for an adventure, and when they see the brothers on TV, they quickly scheme and pretend to be nice, normal girls in order to win the job. Everything seems great until they get to Hawaii and the brothers start to realize they may have met their matches, at least party wise. If two people can ruin an event, how destructive will four people be?
In this film, I’ll admit there is some comedy that is extremely funny, but there is also more than enough cheap and stupid material. Efron plays a role that’s extremely dumbed down and continues to explore his comedic side, which has its moments, and DeVine again portrays a funny yet loud and excessive character. Kendrick plays a sort of crazy person who was left at the wedding alter and is a bit loony as a result, and Plaza, like some of her other recent films, yet again provides the female version of dirty comic relief.
The thing about movies like this is a viewer’s tolerance level for extremely crude humor and mindless gags will largely determine whether they like this film or not. Like in the “Neighbors” films, there’s a ton of one liners, various comedic bits, hit and miss dialogue and attempts at humor that all revolve around sex, partying, drugs, indecent language, etc. Here, some things work and much doesn’t work, but the cast appears to give a strong effort, even though the material isn’t as strong.
It’s pretty generic, but it’s also very simple – some people like this stuff and some people don’t. Personally I didn’t care for the film as a whole and didn’t think the few quality jokes would be worth the price of a ticket, but perhaps it could be a good home movie. Never know, the same large audience the allowed “Neighbors” to have a sequel could very well come out this weekend to see this film.
2 out of 5 stars.
“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is rated R for crude sexual content, language throughout, drug use and some graphic nudity. Running time is 1 hour and 38 minutes.
Director: Jake Szymanski
Selig Rating: Cable/Freebie
The Selig Rating Scale:
FULL PRICE – Excellent movie, well worth the price
MATINEE – Good movie
DOLLAR – OK movie
CABLE – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
FREEBIE – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn't paid for it.
COMMERCIAL TV – Commercials and cutting to the allotted time will not hurt this one.
FORGET IT! – Bad. If you see this one, do yourself a favor and keep it to yourself.
GET YOUR TORCHES – BAD! – Burn the script, the writer, the director and maybe even the actors!
