Mike & Dave - Un matrimonio da sballo

They think they have just made them all better parties, but to their parents and to admittedly, reality, brothers Mike (Zac Efron) and Dave (Adam Devine) have only ruined all of the family events they've participated in for their wild party style. So when its Jaine's (Sugar Lyn Beard) turn to get married the family is taking no risks: Mike and Dave are to bring wedding dates to the wedding in order to be kept at bay. That's when Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) put on the façade of being nice and ordinary girls to score a free weekend in Hawaii after discovering an advert from the two brothers. Yet when the chaotic spirits of both pairs start to explode, an apparently normal weekend turns into a ludicrous series of events.

"Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" has good and charismatic leads, with natural comedic timing and an appropriately funny cast built around them with a script that has some effortlessly funny gags working. Yet, a fair amount of laughs are not enough to surmount the film's lack of heart, which often transpires into both annoying and unmotivated sequences and humor which is close to being mean spirited.

What severely lacks from the film is a fresh and interesting comedic voice. As much as you feel the director's passion, I couldn't help but feel very cold about the style and visual choices the film makes. It is directed with almost no life, it doesn't feel alive and breathing, the shot choice is for the majority so basic it made my head ache at some point. There aren't any passages in the film where you feel inspired filmmaking and character or story being given a chance to flow. The editing is very mechanical and brings the film into feeling more like a series of gags, which might be occasionally good, but lack any kind of drive given the very predictable and clichéd script.

Still, there's no denying the talent almost everybody has for comedy and even when handed what for most is very average material they manage to elevate it and thanks to what is sure to be a lot of improvisation they make the scenes that work, work really well and transcend what are otherwise deeply problematic character development elements. Efron's career has lately been all about these R-rated comedies and I have to admit I am one who really enjoys his effort in these: he is a great screen presence and always brings a palpable irony to the scenes. Adam Devine at this point is an enigma for me, I have no idea where he'll go in the future, that is because he has some really borderline annoying stuff here, but I don't know if it's thanks to him or the gag in itself I was never brought to a breaking point. I enjoyed probably all of his beats and he had many different ones to bring alive, succeeding in all of that variety.

What is frustrating about the movie is how standard it feels and how much everything around it is striving to be better, but what we end up is this basic studio comedy that goes through every single beat we except and leaves the audience with little passion at all. The premise is right, the talent behind cast well, the script is trying to go to fresh places occasionally, but there is an incredible aura of average all around that simply flattens the film to the point of annoyance. Not to mention the ridiculous quantity of screeching women all over the place that had me almost covering my ears.

"Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" is a film that delivers some good and at times great laughs thus succeeding a laugh prompter, yet a comedy film it lacks any depth of character or story to make it live any further than its closing credits unfortunately.

Looking through reviews I can see that I might be an exception, but I loved the movie. The story is about two brothers who need to find dates for their little sister's Hawaii wedding and make an ad. The two wild girls pretend to be good girls so they are chosen.

And it is hilarious all the way through. I was really laughing out loud through most of it. It is not some super clever comedy but it makes one laugh and this is what I need from this kind of movie. We live in a bit of depressing times so it is nice to see this kind of comedy just to relax and laugh.

The characters are all great. Fun people, made me remember the good times of living with my best friend and doing crazy things. And of course the fact that the actors are all talented comedians makes it even better.

The film's premise and plot is partially based on a true story. It starts where Mike and Dave settle on two girls, Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alicia (Anna Kendrick), who turn out not to be respectable at all, but just as self-absorbed and clueless as they are. They are also just as rude, ready for alcohol, the film does evince a welcome sense of gender parity for bad behavior.

Similar to Wedding Crashers, Hollywood demands that the wedding is messed up, so no surprises there, nor in what happens afterwards. All four actors have great comic timing and their improvisation skills are tested, but within the content of the film, crude sexual gags and tastelessness hammering the same jokes over and over hold them back. This film isn't clever, witty or funny enough to warrant anything more than a one time viewing. For films such as this in which we know what it is about, it's utterly predictable and not as entertaining as it could have been. Simply put, the jokes aren't that great as to warrant consistent laughs, just light chuckles.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates was humorous and quite entertaining. It has somewhat of a plot and was enjoyable. Some scenes could have been removed however. It was thankfully not too vulgar and relied on the performances of its four main cast members to bring it home. There was great chemistry between the four, some funny moments that most audiences should laugh at and slightly sentimental too. Audrey is a natural treasure but the weakest link was Anna Kendrick who was not as funny as she was annoying. You know this film is not in the running for any Oscars but it exists to entertain and achieved that. Glad I watched it.

Zac Efron has starred in no shortage of comedies lately. With Dirty Grandpa and the Bad Neighbours franchise under his belt, he is really starting to flex his comedic muscles (so to speak). Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he stars in this hilarious 'loosely based on true events' romp, Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Zac plays Dave Stangle, a dim-witted lad who is in the alcohol business with his equally dim older brother Mike (played by Adam Devine, who you will remember from Pitch Perfect and Modern Family). Both are notorious for their destructive behaviour at family get-togethers so when they are confronted by their fed-up father to bring sensible dates to their sister's upcoming destination wedding, they are on a mission to find the perfect girls.

They end up with Alice and Tatiana (played by Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza respectively) who are far from wholesome but manage to convince the boys that they are. It's not until various unconventional situations occur that the ladies' true colours are revealed to the Stangle brothers who are now facing the dilemma of potentially ruining yet another family event.

This film is what you would expect – a lot of crude humour and ridiculousness so don't expect anything more. My biggest fear was that (like most movies of this nature) the best bits are all in the trailer, leaving the film empty of anything fresh however I can safely say there are plenty other laughs to be had throughout. No Oscar nominations here, but a fun and easy watch.

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