Comedy is a constant revolving door of what's currently funny. In the late 90s the Farrelly Brothers brought about the gross-out comedy and, along with American Pie, showcased bodily fluids and vulgar sexual dialogue/acts as the norm for laugh-out-loud comedy. Then came the Apatow dynasty that brought about the crude with heart. We were given films like The 40-Year-Old Vigin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Wedding Crashers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Hangover, etc. Now, in the 2010s there has been a new resurgence of a strange breed of comedies. First of all, there's the female led comedies that are skyrocketing due to director Paul Fieg with Bridesmaids, Spy, and now Ghostbusters (which I'm very excited to see). However, the brat pack leaders from the 90s and 00s are either making their way into more serious roles, or they're making strange hybrid comedies that are either very meta or calling out the comedies of yore. Films like 22 Jump Street, Neighbors, We're The Millers, and now Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. They're not bad movies. Some of them are actually downright hilarious, but the fact that comedy has evolved to a point where we're pointing out what wasn't funny before is sort of a strange breed. Mike and Dave is the nod to Wedding Crashers from the millennial point of view. However, it is neither as clever or funny, but it doesn't necessarily fail either.
Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) Stangle are two rowdy brothers whose parents have forced them to bring dates to their sister's wedding in Hawaii so the two won't rile each other up and potentially ruin the wedding. They do an all-call on Craigslist and end up on the Wendy Williams show searching for the perfect dates. Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza), two messy and crass ladies (who admittedly have a lot more depth to their characters than I was expecting) answer the call, stage a meet cute, and get whisked off to Hawaii as the dates. However, keeping up the 'nice girl act' is something a little bit too difficult for them and their true colors come out. Hi-jinks and antics emerge and the wedding is, once again, put into jeopardy.
It's not an unfunny movie, though the laughs are pretty sporadic. The two girls do a nice job of holding their own in a movie that could've easily become extremely male-centric. Anna Kendrick actually kills it in the comedy department, showcasing funny skills I was unaware she had. The problem is that there is a lot going on and none of it particularly stands out. One of the funniest scenes of the movie (the ATV crashing into the bride's face) has been overplayed on the trailers so much, it's lost its gusto. The rest is a cavalcade of debauchery and weirdness that adds up to the wedding getting ruined-- but nothing that 'crazy' stands out in your mind after leaving the theater. Zac Efron, who I'm starting to like more and more as a comedic actor, just sort of fades into the background and, though I'm sure he's actually not, feels severely underused. Adam Devine, who I also respect for his weird brand of comedy, is almost too Adam Devine-y and it appears more of a schtick than a character. Kendrick and Plaza really run the show here, but even Aubrey Plaza's character gets a little tiring after awhile. There's just too much going on in a movie that feels like it could've stayed focused on the main four.
What actually is great about the movie is the fact that everyone carries with them a little bit of character depth. Not exactly the same amount as the main four in Wedding Crashers (which is mentioned several times in this film-- see-- meta), but five years ago the girls would've been written very as stereotypical and the evolution of immature man-boy turning into a responsible grown up would've been reserved solely for Mike and Dave. But it's the character growth of the two female leads that makes the movie just that much more elevated above stupid sex-comedy set in Hawaii. I feel like the hindrance of the film though is in the comedy. There are a lot of scenes that feel too rushed. Even the chemistry between Devine and Efron felt just a little bit off. They're good together but they're no Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Then, there's a few scenes that are just plain derivative and completely lose the comedic element. This makes the movie just a little bit better than okay.
One of the weirdest things I noticed (since this damn trailer has been attached to every movie I've seen in the last two months) is that a good chunk of what makes up a funny trailer is straight up cut from the movie. A lot of the jokes have either been removed or they used alternate lines that aren't as funny. There are entire plot lines and scenes that are removed as well-- remember when they're wearing wrestling uniforms and offer to play nice against the girls in a game of Bocci? Yup-- not even in the movie. And what's crazy is that at the end of the film there are outtakes and we see some alternate lines used that ultimately hit the cutting room floor. The problem here is that these lines and some of the scenes were funnier than what was actually happening in the movie. With a movie like this, and like with a lot of comedies, the actors are very good at hilarious improvisation. They can do ten, twelve takes using a different joke each time and it's up to the director and editor to decide which takes to use and a lot of them, it appears, were the wrong ones selected for the actual movie. Two lines in the trailer that consistently made me chuckle (when her face is messed up and Devine says it looks "like a fucked up waffle" and the scene with the naked masseuse swinging over the bride saying "the souls meet where the holes meet") were exchanged for lines and moments that weren't as good.
But, it's a light and breezy movie, there's plenty of vulgarity to go around and it's an easy watch. I was impressed with the movie being a little bit more mature than I was expecting (I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not mature mature-- if you're not a seventeen year old boy at heart, you're not going to love it), but the writing was a bit more heightened than I had expected. And there are genuine laughs sprinkled about the movie so it never feels too lacking for too long. There are comedic lulls, but never lasting that long. It's certainly not a must-go-see-in-theaters film, but I think it'll do quite well as a Redbox rental on a Friday night when you need a good laugh during the hardcore drama end of the year Oscar-bait film season.
C+
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