'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates' Review

In recent years, Zac Efron seems to have finally moved away from being just 'the guy from High School Musical' to now becoming a big draw in comedy films. Joining him this time is another big draw in the form of Anna Kendrick with the wickedly talented Aubrey Plaza and Adam Devine accompanying them in this raunchy comedy. A solid cast that has the potential to capture greatness, but would 'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates' be able to succeed?

Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) Stangle are two wild young men who tend to let things get out of hand when it comes to family gatherings. When it is announced that their sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard) is getting married in Hawaii, the pair are told to bring nice girls as their dates. The pair put an ad on Craigslist and end up being invited on TV to try and find the right girls. Two who notice this are Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza), two former waitresses who were fired for their reckless and wild behaviour. The pair see this as a great chance to get free vacations so clean themselves up and pretend to be 'nice girls'. Soon after they win the opportunity to go to Hawaii, it becomes clear to the Stangles that they were not what they were looking for and are potentially more wild than they are.

If you've seen the trailer for this movie, you know exactly what this film is trying to create. The trailer is filled with raunchy jokes and shock humour to try and draw laughs. This carries on into the film but with only one part succeeding. The film continues with it's raunchiness creating some scenes that are really extreme. Unfortunately though, there aren't a whole bunch of them that really are that funny which leads it to becoming quite an awkward experience at times. The film goes all out in some scenes, especially the scene where Jeanie gets a special massage set up for her by Alice. This is one of the many examples that the scene is more weird than actually funny.

Although a lot of the raunchy humour doesn't hit as well as they hope, the movie is saved by its four leads. Zac Efron shows his capabilities as a comedy actor once again as he puts in a strong performance. As Dave Stangle, he seems to be the more ambitious and you can see why he has more of a connection to Anna Kendrick's character Alice. Kendrick also does very well playing the awkward at times Alice who is still getting over being left at the alter. Her natural charm and humour is once again evident in her performance once again. The pair come together very well and are both likeable despite their wild behaviour at times.

I'm a big fan of Aubrey Plaza and enjoyed her performance once again in this movie. Her normal deadpan delivery is succesful yet again but a problem with her character- and most of the characters in fact- is that she is supposed to be fairly stupid. You don't really get this feeling from her character Tatiana, she's just a bit wild. Adam Devine is the weakest of the four leads as he relys to much on silly facial expressions and incomprehensible dialogue that doesn't work all of the time. In saying that though, the rest of his performance is enjoyable as he as well progresses as an actor.

Despite the style of comedy not working entirely in it's favour, the film is still entertaining to an extent. As previously mentioned, this is due to the four leads but there are also some scenes that provide decent levels of entertainment. I've said this a few time with comedies this year, that they have been fairly entertaining to watch however they just lack the parts that make them funny which really doesn't allow them to succeed.

If you like that style of comedy, you may have a great time with this film. Unfortunately for me, I didn't find it great due to this however did still find some entertaining aspects within it. Not the worst comedy of the year but is also far from the best.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates'? If so what did you think of it? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the movie. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor