Review of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) by Patrick L — 17 Aug 2016

"Mike and Dave don't need wedding dates, what they should've looked for is better scripts".

Movie Review: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Date Viewed: July 9 2016.

Directed By Jake Szymanski.

Written By Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien.

Starring: Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Adam DeVine, Aubrey Plaza, Stephen Root, Stephanie Faracy, Sugar Lyn Beard, Alice Wetterlund, Kumail Nanjiani, Sam Richardson and Wendy Williams.

I hate movies with the word "wedding" in the title because sometimes it can be a bad sign. I liked a few of those "Wedding" movies, I enjoyed "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", "Wedding Crashers" and "The Wedding Singer". However, there are also really bad "Wedding" movies out there (Hello! "The Big Wedding", "The Wedding Planner, and "The Wedding Ringer"), especially this movie which is crass, distasteful and unfunny. Mike and Dave don't need wedding dates, these wild party animals need better scripts. "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" is one of those movies where just want to punch a hole in the screen and be mad at the filmmakers for wasting your precious time.

Poor Zac Efron is having such a bad year, first came the reprehensible "Dirty Grandpa" and now this and how many times do I have to tell you this, you don't have to take your shirt off in every movie you're in, we get it you want to be the sexiest man alive, please just move forward. "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" is about two brothers, Mike Stangle (Adam DeVine) and Dave Stangle (Efron) who are viewed as basically troublemakers, dicks and Adam Sandler by their parents (Stephen Root and Stephanie Faracy) because they are total party animals during their family gatherings.

With their sister's (Sugar Lyn Beard) wedding coming up, dad decides that the only solution to stop Mike and Dave's partying habits is for them to have wedding dates. Unable to get respectable girls to their wedding, Mike and Dave decide to promote their ad on "The Wendy Williams Show" and they get the attention of slacker best friends, Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza, who was also in "Dirty Grandpa"). They were just fired from their waitressing jobs and Alice is still depressed over her jerk of a fiance ditching her at the alter and she feels responsible for the demise of their relationship. That's ridiculous because her boyfriend was a total dick for leaving her like that.

Tatiana and Alice see Mike and Dave's promotion as a free trip to Hawaii and they decide to look pretty and respectable for Mike and Dave. When they do meet Mike and Dave, Tatiana poses as a school teacher while Alice pretends to be a hedge fund manager. Mike and Dave think their the perfect dates to take to Hawaii for their sister's wedding and they invite them to the fancy tropical island for some mayhem, chaos and script contrivances. Eventually, Mike and Dave do realize that Alice and Tatiana are wild troublemakers just like them as they drink alcohol and ride on ATVs and perform insane tricks.

Mike tries to perform ATV stunt on his own (It's a very bad idea! It would lead the audience to more bad jokes!) but he accidentally hits Jeanie in the face. She may have severe bruise on her face but don't worry, Alice treats Jeanie to a massage where the Indian masseuse at the hotel gives her the time of her life and more unfunny jokes. As Dave strikes a possible romance with Alice, Mike continues to be a total jackass around everybody he meets including his wedding date. Tatiana who is sluttiest person in the movie flirts with Mike a lot but decides not to sleep with him. Mike in particular is also a big deal because his screehing tantrums are beyond annoying and his desire to party a lot and cause a lot of chaos is really disturbing.

The movie's raunchiness and hardly original premise is no surprise since it was written by Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien, the same people who wrote "Neighbors" and "Neighbors 2", both of which happen to star Zac Efron! Debuting director Jake Szymanski aims every comedic gag so low or very low and you have a game cast that's stranded in a movie that doesn't offer them much to work with.

When I do find a wedding date someday, she will be more respectable and kind compared to the people in this film. It obviously wants to be "Wedding Crashers" which was also stupid but that movie had more heart and laughs compared to "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates". It's simply one of the worst movies of 2016.