We all could use a laugh or two right now, and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates delivers exactly that. It’s not the best film you’ll see all year, but it’s far from the worst.
A trip to the movies can be relaxing and diverting, especially from a news cycle full of tragedy and horror every time you turn around. There are always new worlds awaiting a visit at the movies, and they can add to or change your perspective on the world. While Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates more than likely won’t have you shifting your worldly perspective, it is perfect escapist fare. It never takes itself too seriously and provides the laughs we all desperately need.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is exactly the raunch-fest you’d expect it to be, and it doesn’t apologize for it. We wouldn’t want it to. You know what you are getting when you walk into the theatre, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Strengths
Let’s hear it for the boys!
First of all, let’s hear a round of applause for Adam Devine and Zac Efron, who lead this film in ridiculous ways. They get into all sorts of creative trouble that you have difficulty believing they will ever dig themselves out of. They are the perfect compliment to Plaza and Kendrick, and will have you wanting to party with and avoid them in equal measure.
One of the highlights regarding these two characters includes a pair of hot microphones, a rehearsal dinner, and some wrongly-assumed privacy. Hilarity ensues. We’ll let you envision the nonsense.
Who run the world? Girls.
This movie would not be nearly as enjoyable without Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick wreaking their brand of havoc. Their characters don’t necessarily have nefarious intent, but both are absolutely hysterical to watch. Aubrey’s character, Tatiana, is just a good friend looking to shake her bestie from a left-at-the-altar funk. She goes above and beyond the call of duty where this is concerned. Anna Kendrick’s Alice is a little bit fragile, but a whole lot of spunk.
Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick are the perfect pair to play opposite Efron and Devine. They compliment each other perfectly, and are the perfect balance.
Equal raunch
In a movie like this, it’s easy for one side of the story to become the A-side where the other gets the B-story. That is so not the case in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. For every raunchy, ridiculous antic that the girls get up to, the boys seem to match it minutes later in their own scene.
In the end, you see just how well matched these pairs are. How they are so alike in their obliviousness to the chaos they leave in their wake. We couldn’t have asked for a better cast, or a more even way to go about telling this story.
Weaknesses
Dumb jokes galore
So, while this movie is hilarious and fun, it dumbs down the humor to the lowest common denominator, as you would expect after seeing any trailer. While it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s not a strength of the film either. Just once we’d love to see a movie about fun-loving silly people that doesn’t involve extraneous drug use, incredibly poor decision-making, and ludicrous injuries.
The jokes are there, and you’ll find yourself laughing, even cackling, more than once, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t wish for more. And that’s totally okay.
Did he have to be naked?
In one of the movie’s more ridiculous sequences, a masseur strips down to give the ultimate in massage packages, and the question that we couldn’t get past was: Did he have to be naked?
Gratuitous nudity is another expected eventuality in a movie like this, and that expectation is met by Anna Kendrick’s character in the latter half of the story, so why the naked masseur? It just seems completely ridiculous and was just one step too far for this viewer.
Ultimately
It’s not the movie of the summer, but it is one hell of a fun ride. It’s raunchy and ridiculous, and may just be what you’re looking for this weekend. Send the kids to The Secret Life of Pets, and hit up Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates on your own. The box office has done a great job this summer of offering something for everyone. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is the offering for anyone interested in light-hearted, stupid comedy.