(An obvious reference point is “Wedding Crashers”, which “Mike and Dave” desperately strives to emulate, only Efron and Devine are a far cry from Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn when it comes to comedic riffing.) The key, I think, lies in the subplot of Cousin Terry (Alice Wetterlund).
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Where Mike and Dave truly shines is in the banter between its characters.
Inspired by the true-life antics of NY brothers Mike and Dave Stangle, who achieved minor notoriety by seeking family function partners from a United States equivalent of Trade Me, this cringe comedy offers little in the way of unique selling points.
All of the women in “Bridesmaids” get the chance to be amusing, but they’re grounded in reality to a degree that it makes Melissa McCarthy’s outlandish character stand out and be that much more amusing. Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick kill it both while pretending to be “nice” girls and when letting loose.
Once in Hawaii, it’s not the brothers who wreak havoc, but Alice and Tatiana, which leads to a few terrific, twisted sight gags. Pretty soon, their ad – offering an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii – has gone viral and attracted the attention of a lot of women, most of whom are undesirable as traveling companions.
Overall, “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is a bit uneven, but with so many jokes being thrown out, enough make contact that the result in a lightweight yet mostly entertaining summer movie. Then there are the shocking jokes that simply don’t land, coupled with incredibly shoddy production values.
Aubrey Plaza, who shot to fame in her role as April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation, has opened up about her sexuality in a new interview.
Mike and Dave’s attempts at humor fall squarely into the Workaholics school of inebriated bro comedy. Mike and Dave Stangle are an actual pair of New York-area bros who in 2013 placed a Craigslist ad looking for dates for a family wedding.
Eleven years after the latter arrived in theaters, Zac Efron and Adam Devine are up for the challenge. That’s one of the two ways the film tries to make you laugh.
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While that’s not necessarily a bad target for which to aim, “Mike and Dave” only occasionally hits the mark, as most of the jokes aren’t amusing enough and the obligatory third-act attempt at injecting heart into the whole thing isn’t heartfelt enough. If a gag is amusing for 20 seconds, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be amusing for five minutes, but that’s how movies like this tend to operate. These two arrange to find a way to accidentally meet a clueless Mike and Dave and convince them they are just what they want, without letting the guys know they know who they are. With comedians like Marc Maron, Kumail Nanjiani, Jake Johnson, and Alice Wetterland scattered throughout, the film can’t help but be amusing at times. Adam Devine, is vein-poppingly intense and ridiculous as Mike, and he squeezes in a laugh or two when he’s allowed to be his weirdest.
