‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ Looks to Match ‘Wedding Crashers’

Patrick Regan

There’s a scene partway through “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” and it’s actually one of the funnier and more moving moments in the film. It’s unfortunate because it’s all about Mike (Adam Devine of “Workaholics”) trying to get back at his cousin Terry (“Silicon Valley’s” Alice Wetterlund) by mildly poisoning her drink with eye-drops.

Mike’s younger brother Dave (Zac Efron) points out that this is the exact same trick used in “Wedding Crashers.” And this is lackluster because it only really serves to remind the audience just how similar this film is to “Wedding Crashers” minus that film’s charm and heart.

“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is based on the true-life story of brothers Mike and Dave Stangle who posted a Craigslist ad looking for wedding dates and gained a degree of internet celebrity in the course of their search. In the film version, the ad comes as an ultimatum from their father (Stephen Root). He’s sick of his sons’ antics at family gatherings and wants them to track down nice dates to keep them in line for their sister’s (Sugar Lyn Beard) Hawaiian wedding.

Their Craigslist ad attracts the attention of Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) who is desperate to get her best friend Alice (Anna Kendrick) out of a rut after Alice’s fiancée left her at the altar.  The brothers’ match in hard partying and self-involvement; and the women pass themselves off as respectable, nice girls to join them on their trip to the Big Island.

At this point, as they say, hijinks ensue. Lies are uncovered, the quartet’s self-involvement almost ruins the wedding and everyone finds themselves paired off and happily ever after. It can be incredibly funny and insipid, staying on jokes far longer than necessary. Worse yet, some of the jokes feel painfully outdated and bordering on offensive. The sex-addicted bisexual cousin Terry is probably the worst example of this – most audiences expect a little more nuance to LGBTQ characters these days.

It’s also a shame because there are moments of great heart from the characters as well. There’s a moment near the end where Tatiana confesses to Alice that she was secretly hoping Alice never totally got her groove back. If Alice was totally okay, she wouldn’t need Tatiana and if she didn’t need Tatiana, no one would need Tatiana.

This sweet moment is undercut both by her earlier scene with Mike, which feels generic and recycled as well as the fact that the characterizations in this movie can be so elastic. Character intelligence and growth is dependent entirely on what the moment needs for the jokes and story to work. Indeed, it takes a surprisingly long time for the main four characters to endear themselves to the audience. Unlike “Wedding Crashers” or “Bridesmaids” or any other similar comedies, our heroes seem self-involved to the point of narcissism.

There are a few bright moments in “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” but it never quite lives up to the pedigree it’s trying to pursue.

“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” hits nationwide theaters on July 8.