Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Is it just me, or do movies with titles that describes exactly what it says on the tin always end up being either average or sub-par? We’ll see…
You don’t need me to tell you what this is about; we’ve already established that. It’s basically exactly how it sounds. Mike and Dave are brothers (played by Adam DeVine and Zac Efron), who are complete fuck-ups. When their sister announces she is getting married in Hawaii, the family challenge them to find dates for the wedding (surprise!) who are respectable and won’t embarrass them at the gathering. Being fuck-ups, the guys advertise their needs on Craigslist, and guess who responds? Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza of course – both fuck-ups too, in their own right. By pretending to be a variety of absurd things (Plaza claims she is a school teacher, for instance), the pair get the job and their Hawaiian vacation is paid for in full. Clearly, however, things don’t go as smoothly as anyone would have hoped.
Firstly, what an awfully lame premise for a movie. Secondly, what a crappy script. Thankfully, Plaza and Kendrick draw some humour out of all this nonsense and save the day. Say thank you, Zac and Adam! Despite that, it’s all still very forgettable in the long run, and I don’t actually remember a single joke or gag from this movie.
Though the narrative itself isn’t all that earth-shattering, I can’t fault the soundtrack – every song is an absolute bop. The Jurassic Park references really made me laugh too, and there were some super fun sequences within this. Once again, most of the fun was caused by Plaza and Kendrick. (Please note that I have only remembered such references because I listed them in my notes at the time of watching. Looking back, I have no clue what these Jurassic Park references were, but at least they made me laugh at the time I guess?)
One running gag that fell completely flat was the one entailing the lesbian predator stereotype character. Now this one I do remember. The only way that joke would work would be if someone like Kate McKinnon was there to improv the ass of it. Unfortunately whoever wrote this script had no idea how to make this tired trope humorous. DeVine should have been recast too. He has all the charisma of a wholemeal bagel. I said what I said – @ me all you want.
In short, this film is stupid. But it’s kind of good stupid, even if it did kind of feel rushed at the end. Either way, I can’t give this less than an average 3 stars because I love Aubrey Plaza too much to disrespect her like that.
So, three words to describe Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates? Average at best.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is available to rent on Amazon for £3.49 in the UK.
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