Based (loosely) on a true story, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates follows Mike (Adam DeVine) and Dave (Zac Efron), who have a history of ruining family events with their raucous behavior. To try and avoid similar mishaps from ruining their sister’s wedding, their parents demand them to bring “respectable” dates. When a Craigslist ad goes viral, they attract plenty of attention – including from Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick), who seem like perfect date material. Of course, Tatiana and Alice are faking it in order to score a free trip to Hawaii, and they proceed to go wild when they arrive.
With a film with this sort of premise, and with game players like DeVine, Plaza and Kendrick, it’s a bit surprising how tame this film feels. It’s not that the movie doesn’t provide any laughs, because it does. But it suffers from the fate of a number of comedies, where audiences that have watched trailers have probably seen most (if not all) of the best parts. Because of that, it sucks a bit of the energy out of the film. On top of that, though, the film feels predictable in its plotting, and with the lack of surprises in the humor to balance that out, it makes Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates feel less funny than it is. It’s not horrible, but it could have been so much better.
Outtakes Atlanta 