Review of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) by Lane Z — 12 Oct 2016

I am always one to indulge in the slapstick comedies when the mood is right. What drew me to Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates was the core cast of Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza. They are easily four of my favorite actors in the biz right now, but it's a shame they aren't really given much original material to work with in this film.

Efron and Kendrick at least get a little variation in their characters while Devine and Plaza play almost identical versions of their TV counterparts from Workaholics and Parks and Rec.

What drags this movie down other than its hit-or-miss humor is its reliance on copying other films with indirect premises. Wedding Crashers is blatantly acknowledged, but it's not that they break the movie fourth wall through the reference that's the issue. The problem is lots of stunts, quotes and occurrences just feel like they were swiped from other movies like Crashers or Meet the Parents.

While the movies stays afloat because of its core cast, it's barely treading water from a plot standpoint with all four characters dialogue sounding like it was written by kids. Nothing smart is said and no real motivation comes from any of its characters.

Though M&D should appeal to a younger generation hot for screwball comedy, it delivers in such short bursts that I don't think many will give this more than a first look.