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Review: ‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ gives the gift of laughter (Includes first-hand account)

Infantile men have often been a source of comedy as their inability to grow up and assume responsibility for their lives provides a wealth of opportunity to make fun of them. Calling it “Peter Pan syndrome” makes it sound a little more whimsical, but the results are the same. In the case of the movies, adult men get into an array of outrageous situations before finally realizing their adolescent behaviour is no longer acceptable. Thus we have the premise of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Brothers Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) are inseparable. They live together, work together, party together and embarrass their family together. Although they remember all their major gatherings as epic wins, their family recalls the horrific fails they’ve caused over the years. Determined to avert a fiasco at their younger sister’s wedding in Hawaii, the brothers are charged with finding two nice young women who will keep them in line. When their search inevitably gains national interest, they attract the attentions of best friends Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) — the guys’ total equals and the complete opposite of what their parents hoped for to keep them out of trouble.

One of the key differences in this film is the women are not more put together than the men and similarly at the mercy of their hijinks; these characters are the brothers’ disastrous equivalents, if not worse. While Mike and Dave are attempting to be on their best behaviours, Alice and Tatiana are determined to have an awesome, all-expenses-paid vacation regardless of the consequences. Of course both pairs mess up repeatedly and nearly ruin the entire wedding, but it’s all so stupid and funny that audiences will find themselves regularly both aghast and in stitches. At one point Alice is found “wearing” a horse and somebody gets the strangest tantric massage care of Kumail Nanjiani — and these examples barely touch the surface of the film’s shenanigans (although many of them are unfortunately in the trailer).

Everyone is perfectly casted in this movie. The chemistry between Efron and Devine, and Kendrick and Plaza — both separate and together — is impeccable and one of the main reasons the comedy is so effective. Out of the four actors, Efron is probably the closest to the straight character; conversely both Devine and Plaza are impulsive, and Kendrick is a little neurotic. The siblings’ parents are played just as flawlessly by Stephen Root and Stephanie Faracy, while the happy couple are portrayed by the less familiar but still faultless Sugar Lyn Beard and Sam Richardson. Together the ensemble delivers comedy that doesn’t let up or get too off-base just for the sake of a beat in the script.

Aptly released during wedding season, the film’s social media accounts shared tips for guests on what not to do on the special occasion. Don’t be “that guy/girl” at your next event.

Director: Jake Szymanski
Starring: Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza

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Sarah Gopaul is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for film news, a member of the Online Film Critics Society and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved critic.

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