Movie Review: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, and I’m RSVP’ing as a +1. Someone please pass the champagne and a hanky, because this is the wedding party of the year. Though there’s been no lack of wedding-themed comedies as of late (or ever), it’s high time another raucous matrimonial flick graced the summertime big screen. Stunning new concept? No. Totally absurd and uproarious? Absolutely. Look, if you’re looking for a classy cinematic masterpiece, 
by all means, do not go see this movie. But if you could use a good laugh or 100, and aren’t offended by vulgarity, then leave right now and buy a ticket.
Lauded as the next Wedding Crashers, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates has at least one thing going for it that Wedding Crashers doesn’t: the foundation of a true story. Based on the escapades of Mike and Dave Stangle – a pair of brothers from New York who, in 2013, placed a Craigslist ad for wedding dates to their cousin’s wedding at the behest of their family to bring dates instead of going stag – Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates zeroes in on the Stangle brothers’ side-splitting search for two “nice girls” to bring to their sister’s wedding, and the snowballing consequences of their actions.
Fun-loving brothers and best friends Dave Stangle (Zac Efron) and Mike Stangle (Adam DeVine) live life to the fullest, having a blast selling liquor together for a living. As it turns out, Efron and DeVine were born to play bros, in both the figurative and literal sense. Handsome, quirky party animals embodying the amusement-seeking spirit of twenty-somethings with a wholesome upbringing and good hearts (here and there), the Stangle bros have an unfortunate inclination for riling each other up and ruining family celebrations, year after year. Without knowing the Stangle brothers personally, I can attest that Efron and DeVine capture these characteristics to a tee.
While physical comedy is abundant (DeVine’s facial contortions give Jim Carrey a run for his money, and both brothers’ dance moves, outrageous blow-ups, and sly winks are spot-on), bona fide hilarity lies within the script and each actors’ ability to play off of one another with impeccable comedic timing. Even if, for some reason, the screen had cut out while the sound was left on, there’s no doubt I’d still be wiping my eyes with laughter, knowing another zinger is right around the corner. (But I’d be super bummed, because the wardrobe in this movie is nearly as fun.)
Arbitrary pop culture references and millennial-centric anecdotes (including a shout-out to R.L. Stine’s 1990’s Goosebumps children’s horror book series) pop up here and there for a quick giggle, totally separate from the super raunchy I’m-so-glad-I’m-not-watching-this-with-my-grandmother guffaws I succumbed to throughout the movie.
The title characters could not have been cast more perfectly. To be fair, though, DeVine was typecast, as his role is an eerie mashup of Pitch Perfect‘s Bumper and Modern Family‘s Andy. Efron, on the other hand, continues his journey to be taken seriously as a comedic actor. They both won my admiration, though I’m not sure they would shine without each other. It really was like watching two frat boy blood brothers recently released into the real world.
With that, the leading ladies aren’t far behind. Cocktail waitresses Alice and Tatiana, played by Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza respectively, amp up the filth-factor. Even as they charade as “nice girls” before reality sets in and it’s discovered that these egocentric, witty, foul-mouthed young ladies are wolves in sheeps’ clothing, we’re given a taste of just how insane this wedding trip to Hawaii is going to be. The ever-hilarious Kendrick skootches a bit out of her realm, personifying an ecstasy-toting, heartbroken single gal pretending to be an investor and prone to haphazard crying fits over being left at the altar. Plaza knocks it out of the park as she fakes being a teacher, while oozing sex and indifference – a bizarre mix that somehow works for her.
Sugar Lyn Beard plays Jeanie Stangle, beloved sister to the Stangle brothers and advocate for them to bring dates to their wedding. Though her screen time is sparse, the laughs are not. Likewise, her quiet fiancé Eric (Sam Richardson) slips under the radar delivering some of the most perfectly constructed humdingers in the movie. Kumail Nanjiani also treats us to a ludicrous escapade involving body oil and crude, physical humor which I may never be able to erase from my memory.
A perfectly-timed release, smack-dab in the middle of the 2016 wedding season when many of us are feeling the pressure of participating in or attending a wedding, this film goes for the gold in poking fun at the idiosyncrasies of family involvement in the nuptial process. With a silly premise that just happens to be true, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is a fun flick for those who enjoy playfulness and find themselves not offended by obscene humor.
Mandi Ruffner
