Hilarious in spots but ultimately disappointing, MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES is like a reception that goes on too long, leaving you with the feeling that a little LESS might have been nice.
Zac Efron and Adam Devine are both hilarious as Dave and Mike Stangle, two real life brothers who went on the Today Show after their online search for dates to attend their sister's wedding went viral.
It's indicative of the humor here that The Today Show has been replaced with Wendy WIlliams.
The boys are forced to attend with respectable dates after ruining nearly every family event with their crazy "young single guy" antics that invariably spin out of control.
Two very UN-respectable young ladies Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) decide to ditch their alcohol & drug infused ways and pretend to be a school teacher and a hedge fund manager to meet our brothers, who soon fall for the act and ask the girls to join them in Hawaii.
Cue Hijinks.
Some, like an ATV excursion and the bride's encounter with a tantric masseuse (Kumali Nanjiani damn near steals the movie) are laugh out loud funny.
Efron has really grown as an actor and he is really good here. Devine's delivery and timing are flawless and he and Zac share great on screen chemistry as a comic duo.
The groom to be Eric (Sam Richardson of "Veep"), bride's father Burt (terrific character actor Stephen Root) and cousin Terry (Alice Wetterlund) are all excellent, but large chunks of the film just kind of sit on screen, giving Divine and Efron the heavy lifting of just keeping things rolling. The boys are game, but the writing lets them down.
Kendrick is a ton of fun, with a sweet nature beneath all the rowdy shell, but Plaza is, for me, a bit off putting as Tatiana. She is so unremittingly foul mouthed, rude and selfish that I found her grating.
And this is one hard R of a film, with as much nasty debauchery as any Farrelly film and the language of a Scorcese gang flick.
When two of our main characters start dropping ecstasy the night before the wedding, it all became a bit much and went on too long.
By the time the final ceremony actually kicks in, the movie regains its footing a bit for its close.
Throughout, there are some great laugh-out-loud moments, but ultimately its disappointing in its lack of consistency.
Wedding's over. Time to slap this a B- and head home.
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