Where to watch Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
3 1/2 Stars
The wedding comedy has been done to death since the golden era of the silver screen. The genre has produced some memorable classics, and we can add Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates to the list. The unlikely pairing of the four leads produces surprisingly abundant chuckles. Both sexes get in on the raunchy behavior allowing for ample equal opportunities at being dirty. However, the movie retains its good-natured tone without slipping into the overt sentimentality that typically weighs these pictures down.
Near-do-well brothers Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave Stangle (Zac Efron) are unsuccessful liquor salesmen whose history of ruining their family’s gatherings has caused great alarm with their soon-to-be wed sister. Hoping to avoid another fiasco, their parents demand the brothers find dates for the nuptials in Hawaii. Mike and Dave decide to put an ad on Craigslist looking for nice girls to take to the big event.
Party girls Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick) have recently been fired for their drunken antics at their slacker job. The girls see the Stangle brothers on T.V. and they decide that the free trip is just the vacation they need to get back on their feet. After, Tatiana throws herself in front of a moving car to gain Mike and Dave’s attention, the foursome go on a date. Fooled by the girl’s polite demeanor and conservative outfits, the brothers invite the girls to the wedding.
Wedding Crashers is the film most likely to come to mind from the title and plot description. With a little reworking this could have been envisioned as a follow-up to the mega-hit from 2005. But in actuality Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is on par, or dare I say, better than Crashers. The film has a loose tone that works for the material, allowing the laughs to come from unexpected places and bits of dialogue. Mike and Dave need Wedding Dates is the best comedy of 2016.
Director: Jake Szymanski
Stars: Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Adam DeVine