Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Based on a real Craigslist advert, Mike and Dave is the story of two twenty-something brothers (Adam DeVine and Zac Efron) who are given an ultimatum: to find dates to their sister’s Hawaiian wedding. The brothers have a track record of ruining family events and, for some reason, their father thinks a pair of nice girls will keep the boys in line. Enter Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick) –certainly not the nice girls the dad dreams of but two who are willing to pretend to be nice if it means a free trip to Hawaii.

It’s a fairly run-of-the-mill ensemble comedy; the four leads are lovable, self-obsessed and co-dependent screw-ups. Some may find their cluelessness relatable, but others may find it a tad stale, buying into the myth of eternal child millennials. While the humour is par for the course, there are a few attempts at progression, mostly in the form of bisexual Cousin Terry (Alice Wetterlund). Alice and Tatiana feel more real than a lot of slacker-comedy girls: they smoke weed, watch porn and, in their finer moments, bring Broad City to mind. Outside of that, the film falls into the familiar pitfalls of raunchy comedy. The majority of the jokes are crude and well-worn, but it’s an endearing quality from the likeable cast that stops it from being eye-rollingly dull.

The four leads have great chemistry but, as always, it’s Plaza’s deadpan, borderline sociopathic delivery that is the standout here. Her performance is such that it is difficult to tell whether she’s simply in character or if she truly finds the film as boring as some are sure to.  

Mike and Dave is certainly nothing mind-blowing, but it certainly has its moments and, for breezy summer fun, you could definitely do worse.

Natasha Furlong

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is released nationwide on 10^th August 2016.

Watch the trailer for Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates here: