Mike and Dave' Need Much More Than Wedding Dates

**The following is an in-depth review of “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” and does contain spoilers.**

The comedy was once a great and mighty tradition. Stars like Eddie Murphy, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Tom Hanks and countless others became household names due to their ability to make audiences laugh. The comedy has given us some of our fondest memories, most quotable lines and in many cases brought our families closer together.

Sadly, it seems those days are behind us.

With films like "The Boss," "Fifty Shades of Black" and "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" failing to impress, it seems like Hollywood just has to keep reaching deeper and deeper to find those laughs, and they may have finally hit the bottom of the barrel with "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates."

"Mike and Dave" tells the story of two intellectually challenged and immature brothers who run a modest liquor distributorship that generally has to rely on poorly planned shenanigans to make a sale. When they aren't trying to hawk liquor, they get their jollies by attending various family functions and then proceeding to inadvertently ruin them through their buffoonery.

Because of their past behavior, their father sits them down and mandates that they will be required to bring dates to their sister's upcoming wedding in Hawaii and that these girls are to be nice, wholesome girls. Being the incompetent morons that they are, the decide to place an ad on Craiglist looking for dates ... because that's where good Christian girls go to find husbands, right? Of course, they receive hundreds of responses from girls looking for a free trip to Hawaii.

Among the girls who come sniffing are Alice and Tatiana - two promiscuous and unemployed waitresses. Alice and Tatiana are almost exact copies of Mike and Dave - which is the exact opposite of the girls they're supposed to find - but they pretend to be a school teacher and a hedge fund manager. Soon, Mike and Dave fall for the girls' subterfuge and it's off to Hawaii they go.

This is where the hilarity is supposed to ensue. Unfortunately, it really doesn't.

"Mike and Dave" relies way too much on slapstick and lowbrow toilet humor to have any sort of comedic substance. Many of the jokes come off forced and very few of them hit their intended mark. There are some genuine laughs to be had in the film, but those laughs are few and far between. Not once is there a truly side-splitting moment.

Several jokes in the film are ruined by the movie showing too much. In comedy, less is more and "Mike and Dave" doesn't seem to understand that concept. The film on several occasions flat-out shows things that would have been funnier had they simply been alluded to instead. Oftentimes the imagination of the audience is going to come up with something funnier than what can be shown, and again this film doesn't seem to grasp that.

The role of Alice was horribly miscast in this film. Anna Kendrick is a wonderful actress who has turned in countless memorable performances, but she just doesn't do the dumb girl very well. The role is outside her range and she isn't believable in the part. She comes across as a parody of a ditzy girl as opposed to a genuine character and reminds the audience that she's an actress playing a part with every line she speaks. Likewise, Adam DeVine seems to be trying entirely too hard to be funny and he just comes off as annoying instead.

By contrast, Zac Efron and Aubrey Plaza both turn in amazing performances. They each bring a sincerity to their roles that the film is lacking in many other respects. Unfortunately, the strengths of these performances just isn't enough to save the film.

"Mike and Dave" isn't a complete waste of time, but it certainly isn't worth the price of admission and it isn't a movie I ever need to see again.

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