I can't believe I'm about to write this line.
MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES is the funniest movie I have seen this summer (so far).
There, I said it and I don't even feel like I need a shower.
I know - I'm surprised, too. MIKE & DAVE is a pretty funny movie of the over-top, gross out type - think THE HANGOVER or NEIGHBORS,
M&D tells the story of...well...Mike and Dave (Adam Devine and Zach Efron) who think they are just "great partiers" at the various weddings they go to - as seen through their eyes in the opening credits, only to discover "the rest of the story" from their parents (Stephanie Faracy and the great, underused Stephen Root) - they go out of control to disastrous results. The remedy? Bring dates to their sister's destination wedding.
They go about it by putting an ad on Craigslist that goes viral. Enter into it Alice and Tatiana (Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza) two ladies that party even harder than Mike and Dave who B.S. their way to the wedding pretending to be shy, demure and ladylike. As you can imagine, chaos ensues.
The key to this type of movie is the performances of the leads and in these 4, they are in good hands. Aubrey Plaza commands the first part of this movie as she is over the top and inappropriate from the start. She had me laughing early and often. Zach Efron joined in gamely and Adam Devine does what i think Adam Devine does, be the dimwit. I gotta admit that this act wears thin on me, but is serviceable here. Kendrick draws the short straw on this part of the movie as she seemed to be trying to hard in a part that was underwritten.
And then an interesting thing happens...as usually occurs in these types of films, they leads find their "hearts" and the shenanigans tone down. When this happens, the relationship between Kendrick and Efron shine (I'd really love to see a movie with just these two) their heart and sincerity come to center stage and I really start to root for them. Fortunately, for me at least, this means that Devine needed to tone down his act, which I was grateful for. The unfortunate side effect is that Plaza had to tone hers down as well, and she became somewhat of a background player in the 2nd half of the film after carrying the first half.
Comedic movies often rise and fall on the performances of the supporting players, the can be fun (see THE HANGOVER) or they can be non-descript (see the recent GHOSTBUSTERS), fun works, non-descript doesn't. This movie has fun supporting players starting with the afore-mentioned Root as Mike & Dave's father. Add to that Alice Wetterlund's bi-sexual Cousin Terry, Mary Holland's uptight Maid of Honor Becky and Lavell Crawford's Best-Man Keith, they all have their moments to shine. But, for the me, the real unexpected surprise was Sugar Lyn Beard as the Bride, Jeanie. She was inappropriately hilarious in a role that could have been one note, but wasn't. Only Sam Richardson's groom, Eric, was not fun, but he wasn't supposed to be - and he wasn't
Is this movie an Academy Award winner? Well...no. Is it a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a warm summer evening - heck, yes! And isn't that what summer comedies should be? I think so.
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)
