2016 has been a pretty hit or miss year for comedies. With films like Deadpool and Everybody Wants Some on one end of the spectrum and pieces of trash like Dirty Grandpa on the other, it seems like all the great stuff is already behind us. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates does little to make itself standout among other typical destination-flick affairs as Zac Efron and Adam Devine try their hardest to out-bro themselves in a movie that has a lot going for it but never lets itself really mature.
Supposedly based on a true story, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates follows, well, Mike (Devine) and Dave (Efron), two rowdy, immature brothers who have knack for completely obliterating family gatherings. Their parents don’t appreciate this very much and plead for them to find nice, respectable dates for their younger sister’s wedding.
After posting a Craigslist add, the brothers find themselves the center of the spotlight as thousands of girls respond in hopes of a free Hawaii vacation, but its Tatiana and Alice (Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick), two not so nice girls, who get them to believe they were wonderful girls and off they go to Hawaii.
For starters, the film feels far too long for what it is. By the time the credits rolled, I was aching for it to be over, but then there was even more as they included enough bloopers and content into the credits to keep you until the lights switched on. The problem lies in the constant barrage of inconsistent humor that ranges from penis jokes to slapstick humor to overzealous amounts of cussing. Luckily, Efron and Devine are a pleasure to watch, with their female counterparts being a bit of a mixed bag.
Kendrick, who plays Alice, has a lot meatier of a role than her partner. Left at the alter just a short time before the film begins, she has dug herself into a deep hole and can’t seem to find a way out of it. She means well, and wants to be nice and helpful, but she is just a mess. Kendrick is charming and immensely entertaining as always, Plaza, however, isn’t. Though we’ve come to know Plaza to be made purely of sarcasm, it comes off as rude and bitchy here, making her not exactly the most fun to watch.
When it all comes together, the chemistry between Devine and Efron, and Efron and Kendrick is there, but only Plaza and Kendrick share any sort of chemistry. As she’s paired up with Devine, she treats him horrendously (though he does go into the trip expecting to get laid) making all of their scenes an escalating amount of unpleasantness. The rest of the movie is made up of pretty much everything you saw in the trailers (and even less, as some scenes were noticeably taken out).
As far as destination comedies go, Mike and Dave is on the lower end of the bunch. Outrageous humor that seems to only get more so without ever actually showing a redemption for the characters becomes tiring, as does the movie as a whole when it never actually comes to an end. Find some other dates to the wedding, but if you must, go for Devine and Efron who prove that they can be better bros than most real bros.
I didn’t see much from the performances all round, but Aubrey Plaza’s performance stood out as the worst. Good stuff.