Rating: A
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Posted 6/30/16
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Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
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Mike and Dave need Wedding dates is gunning for the comedy of the summer, for multiple reasons. With a great cast, a decent story, and some of the most hilarious scenes I have seen in cinema this movie will certainly not disappoint. Especially with the millennial viewer because of all the jokes of the modern day internet world.
The movie follows Dave Stangle (Zac Efron) and Mike Stangle (Adam Devine), brothers who are in their mid-twenties living together and selling liquor to the masses. The first scene in the movie is Mike trying to sell to a more expensive kind of Tequila to the bar owner. Then when the bartender explaining that people don’t care about the different brands of Tequila, he bets him that if was able to sell to the person sitting at the bar that the bartender would have to buy cases of their special Tequila. The other person sitting at the bar is literally just Dave sitting there, and telling Mike and the bartender that there is no way he will change his tequila brand. The bartender immediately calls him out, “That's your brother!”, “You guys come in here all the time, Dave dated my niece!”, when Dave immediately tells him “I am not Dave, but if I dated your niece, she would have been clingy and desperate.” The bartender just immediately laments and buys ten cases from the guys. Then Dave immediately drops the act and his “cowboy” disguise and lets everyone know he just found that hat over there. You can already tell from the first scene of the movie that these two guys have fantastic comedic timing.
The director Jake Szymanski then gives us tracking shots and huge exciting party shots of the boys having a good time at different parties. The boys are looked at as the big kahuna at the parties, and the excitement and joy on their faces are replaced with horror and disgust when they find out they are actually not that great. The boys have actually been monsters and the parents throw down an ultimatum to get dates for their sister’s wedding or get ousted. The boys thinking of the internet era and how dating has basically gone viral immediately think to post an add on craigslist. The online ad they post on craigslist goes viral and immediately the entire city wants to be their date. The biggest reason why is only because of the free week paid vacation to Hawaii, which who wouldn’t be about that... Cue Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Audrey Plaza), two fun party girls very much like Dave and Mike, concoct the perfect plan to get the boys to take them. They come up with crazy stories of who they are, and Mike and Dave being men of perfectly respectful levels *cough cough* completely fall for it, and take them.
Right so now that I have spoiled most of the first act, the nitty gritty of the movie is that the boys basically find out the girls completely outsmart them and out-partied them at every turn. I won’t spoil any of the jokes, but the movie has an excellent pace and timing of the jokes all up into the last act. Where it certainly seems like they were just trying to wrap it up neatly and tightly as quickly as possible. The movie follows a plot structure a lot like Wedding Crashers but all in one wedding in a weekend.
That being said, the big standout of the movie was Zac Efron (Dave Stangle). He was consistently funny throughout the film. After Neighbors (1 and 2) and Bad Grandpa, he has proven to be a powerhouse in the comedy world. I certainly hope he is given more roles in this genre since buddy films like this are great for him. Adam Levine (Mike Stangle) was also a standout, he is known most exclusively for his role in The Workaholics, where this movie he's basically playing the same character which is fine by me. Adam has some amazing physical humor that I haven’t seen since Jim Carrey in the nineties in his wonder years. Although the downside to this, is that after a gag has gone on for a while, he kinda drags on but that could be more of a directorial choice. I will not lie in saying that. Seeing Audrey Plaza (Tatiana) as outgoing and abrasive was certainly interesting as she was quite hilarious at times, I still just see here as April Ludgate and that kinda bothered me. But of course like all things that’s just my opinion, take it as you like, grilled, seared or broiled. Anna Kendrick (Alice) was a little more on the nice girl side before she drank then she too turned into just the abrasive monster as all the characters. I will say even she had a couple good lines, she is not as funny as the rest of the cast but still adorable to watch. Another honorable mention is Kumail Nanjiani who plays a masseuse for the resort they stay at, and let's just say one of the most memorable scenes occurs. That alone is worth the whole ticket price.
In conclusion, the characters inevitably find out that they are actually terrible people, which I think is the motif of the film, try to be nicer to people, and they may like you more. People may confuse this with thinking this is a RomCom and just to help you out because, hey I care about you, it's just a comedy. It’s a funny one at that. Another interesting tidbit that the movie is actually based on a true story where two brothers actually posted an ad on craigslist. If you would like to view the original ad I will have a link at the bottom. The third act actually falls quite flat with as I said earlier, but even with the story kind of tilting toward the middle. The movie is certainly worth a watch, and if you are looking for a new movie to take a date of your choosing. Go ahead and take her/him to this, may want to watch out if she/he is a bit too conservative, though. The movie is a bit raunchy. I digress, the movie gets a solid 8/10, and I will give it a certified watchable sticker.
Check out the real life Mike & Dave post here: https://www.craigslist.org/about/best/nyc/3614233314.html?lang=en&cc=us