Not the funny summer blockbuster you may be hoping for.
After a series of crazy antics at past family gatherings, Mike (Adam DeVine) and Dave Stangle (Zac Efron) are forced to acquire dates for their Jeanie’s (Stephanie Beard) upcoming wedding to Eric (Sam Richardson) in Hawaii. Not just any wedding dates though. Mike and Dave are in need of nice, respectable, and responsible girls who will keep their rambunctious personalities in check.
Enter Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick), who stage a run-in with the brothers, impersonating the nice girls they’re in search of for a free, all-inclusive trip. Once these four reach their destination, they’re stuck with each other and what starts out as a fairly controlled family function soon turns into a total fiasco.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates has all of the ingredients for a solid and entertaining summer movie -- what with its cast, concept, and director Jake Szymanski (Forehead Tittaes) -- but it doesn’t quite meet expectations. Based off an actual Craigslist ad that received thousands of responses and media attention a few years back, the on-screen story fails to reflect the comedic simplicity of the concept well. Instead, audiences are presented with a hodgepodge of too many character stories, clumsy editing, and an unfortunate mix of bad acting and poor dialogue.
The film jumps from the Stangle brothers' relationship to Alice trying to get over an ex to Alice and Tatiana’s friendship to Tatiana’s personal growth to Mike and Dave’s separate growth to Jeanie and Alice’s friendship until the whole thing becomes just as cluttered as this sentence. Having multiple narratives doesn’t necessarily make a bad film, however the problem here is that each story appears as a leading story instead of a secondary one. Between the editing and the superfluous sequences that highlight the characters' personalities rather than progress the film, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates feels like a series of short films rather than a concise feature.
That’s not to say all of these unnecessary sequences aren’t funny. With comedians like Marc Maron, Kumail Nanjiani, Jake Johnson, and Alice Wetterland scattered throughout, the film can’t help but be funny at times. But these bits can only take the film so far. What’s frustrating is that we’ve seen what these actors (Plaza, DeVine, Kendrick, and Efron) are capable of, but the lacking narrative muddles their performances until their jokes become less comedic and more frustrating and annoying.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates isn’t quite sure what it is. Is it a film about relationships? Sisterhood? Best friends? Growth? Independence? Is it supposed to be the next comedy that places women at the forefront of its laughs? Instead of picking one and running with it the film decides to reach out in all directions, not quite bringing any of them to a satisfying conclusion.
The film does have its moments where it feels like it may come together -- moments where the dialogue is natural and the camera appears less noticeable -- but these moments are few and far between, making the film more of a sloppy compilation of underwhelming performances among a beautiful setting.
The Verdict
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates begins as a promising comedy where both men and women are motivating the laughs, but then quickly fizzles out when it becomes apparent that what’s being shown on-screen is less than necessary to the story's development.
Editors' Choice
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