'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

'Bad Neighbours 2' Review

Comedy sequels are perhaps the biggest hits or misses in the movie industry. There have been some great ones with the likes of the 'Vacation' franchise- bar the latest- and the Monty Python films. Even recently, '22 Jump Street' proved that pulling off a sequel to a comedy can be done very well. Unfortunately for us, these are outdone by the amount of terrible sequels. The 'Dumb and Dumber To's and 'Evan Almighty's of the world leave a very bad taste when it comes to second instalments in comedy. Even more unfortunately for us is that 'Bad Neighbours 2' is in the pile of terrible ones.

We again follow Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) who have just sold their house- or so they think. They don't realise they are in escrow where they have a "30 day, don't fuck up" period where the buyers can pull out if they see something wrong with the home or in this case, neighbourhood. Trouble then arrives in Kappa Nu led by Chloe Grace Moretz's character Shelby who have a sole intention of partying and doing whatever they please. You'd expect this to be like the first one with crazy antics throughout. Instead it shows potential and then goes down with a wimper.

I enjoyed the first 'Bad Neighbours' and had quite a great time watching the film. Sadly the magic from the first was not apparent in the sequel. So many jokes within this film fell so short and were nowhere near the standard set by the first. This may be down to the fact that the rivalry between the neighbours was not nearly as good. The stakes seemed to be raised in the story but isn't carried through forward through in the comedy. There was an opportunity for this film to be bigger and better due to this but unfortunately, this was a opportunity that was missed.

The new face of fear for Mac and Kelly comes in the form of Shelby played by Chloe Grace Moretz. The character has so many inconsistencies throughout the movie whether it is from the way that the character acts. From acting like a non-sense taking character that she promised to be in the early stages, to becoming an indecisive and simply annoying character throughout the film. For me, she didn't carry the presence to pose a total threat to the potential movers. I feel like I'm saying this a lot but again this had potential. The way the character acted at first by being disgusted at what was happening and by doing whatever she wanted to was great and looked to be leading to something exciting. Unfortunately the character doesn't keep this up the whole way through and is only kept going by others bailing her out, including Kelly at one point.

The film takes female empowerment in its grasp and tries to use it as a driving force for these girls who don't like the conventional ways of college partying. Their 'everything is sexist' attitude becomes annoying and is used most of the time just as a petty excuse. There is a scene in this movie where it claims that it is sexist when Zac Efron's returning character Teddy says that Kappa Nu using used tampons was gross. This was one of the few times this was tried to be done but not to good effect. The film even does it terribly at times with the sorority blatantly using their sex appeal against their enemies, a point that seemed to move them away from the conventional parties. Again, this could have worked had it been done correctly with actual reasoning to them saying it. 

The returning characters certainly didn't help the film either. Teddy (Efron) is a mess throughout the film, feeling under appreciated wherever he goes leading to him switching allegiances. He is often mopey and down in his spirits throughout the film which doesn't allow him to excel comically nearly as well as he did in the first one. The jokes between Mac and Kelly are the same recycled jokes based on weed and their struggles to have sex in their new life with a child. They don't work as well and get old after a while. The film is really immature from start to finish and if you really enjoy that, you may get enjoyment from this one. I don't feel that the usually funny cast delivered to their full poential in this film. Even the short parts from the likes of  the returning Dave Franco and  Lisa Kudrow as well as Billy Eichner (Parks and Rec) didn't work as well as they really could have.

I actually did get enjoyment from returning characters Jimmy (Ike Barinholtz) and Paula (Carla Gallo). Jimmy's antics worked well for me including the use of his clown costume used throughout the film. The pairs antics were entertaining throughout the film and made it that little more enjoyable for me.

The film does try to recreate some of the best moments from the first one. The head to head antics are at times clever but there are some that don't have as good an effect. The ending in this film seems very lack lustre as we expect things to continue to build up to a boiling point where one finally gets the vital advantage over the other. Instead it ends incredibly peacefully leading to quite an anti climatic finish. This was disappointing as it failed to deliver a satisfying ending after sitting through a lower than average comedy.

An extra point added to this film. It is the first film that made me put my head in my hands due to it being bad. There is a scene where it switches up and tries to portray a black police officer as being unfairly brutal to white people. Absolutely terrible and I can't believe it was put into this film.

Final Verdict = 

 

One of my worst experiences this year at the cinema for me. I got very little enjoyment from this one finding it unfunny throughout the film. Same stick and not up to standard comedy led me to not get full enjoyment from this one. There was potential for this film to be good but unfortunately the execution just wasn't there.

So have you seen 'Bad Neighbours 2'? If so what did you think of it? I hope you enjoyed it more than I did as well. Once again thank you for reading my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

'