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Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates - Blu-ray Review

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Title: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Movie: :3.5stars:
Video: :4stars:
Audio: :4stars:
Extras: :3.5stars:

HTS Overall Score:77




[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=80865[/img]
Summary
I both dread and love blind watching raunchy comedies. They can be so hit or miss that you almost want to cover your eyes and just cringe wondering what type of experience you’re going to have with the next film in the queue. Sometimes they’re soo soooooooooooo horribly bad (“Neighbors 2” was a perfect example of this), and sometimes you get a diamond in the rough. Other times you get a movie that is technically awful by all logical deductions, but you still have a gas with. Which is more in line with “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates”. The film technically is just as generic and stupid as they come, but I had a blast watching the stupidity unfold, especially when I read up on the true story that this was “loosely” based off of. I can’t say “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is going to be an instant classic, or even a classic at all. But it is a solidly entertaining film for a night when you just want to check your brain at the door and giggle at fart jokes.

Ironically the movie’s premise was ACTUALLY based on the true life Mike and Dave Stangle brothers. While the two didn’t have a wild date that blew up their sister’s wedding, they DID base the idea off their initial idea of posting an ad on craigslist asking for date’s to their sister’s Saratoga wedding (sadly not nearly as exciting as Hawaii). The movie make stereotypical tweaks to the actual events, but supposedly the brothers are on record for saying that the general premise was based off the wild and whacky dates that had based upon their craigslist ad that just went viral.

Mike (Zac Efron) and Dave (Adam Devine, from “Workaholics”) are getting ready to go to their sister Jeanie’s (Sugar Lyn Beard) wedding in Hawaii when their parents decide to run an “intervention”. Mike and Dave happen to be the crazy guys who try to be the life of the party, but almost always ending up destroying the place in the process. Every family even they have ever gone to has ended up with someone in the hospital, a destroyed house, hurt friends, and the brothers hitting on every single female within eyeshot. They are ALLOWED to come to the wedding IF they can bring actual dates to said event. Dates which will help keep them like normal human beings rather than moohy out of control teenagers.

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=80873[/img]
Reluctantly accepting the terms, Mike and Dave come up with a brilliant plan. Toss an ad up on craigslist and see if they can score a date that way. Little do they realize that this one simple ad will go viral on a national level, and soon the guys are up to their eyeballs in potential candidates. However, screening through all of the crazies and whack jobs is a bit harder than it looks. Especially when in walks Alice and Tatiana (played by Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza respectively), a pair of girls who are just as crazy and stupid as the males they are trying to go with. Playing the role of sweet and innocent, the girls wrap the boys around their pinky and voila! Off to a Hawaiian paradise for a week.

I don’t have to tell you that this is not an arrangement that will end well. The girls play up the sweet and innocent role, making the boys look good, for as long as they can. But sooner or later the crazy is going to come out, and come out it does. Brides on Ecstasy, a special masseuse on the advice of Alice and a bisexual cousin who tries to steal Tatiana from Dave, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Mayhem and hilarity ensue, and sooner or later the guys find out that their dates aren’t exactly the goody two shoes that they though originally.

“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” isn’t a brilliant movie. In fact it’s just as dumb and raunchy as “Neighbors 2” (which I eviscerated in my review), but strangely entertaining at the same time. I was NOT expecting a whole lot from the film after Zac Efron’s latest comedy faux pas’ (“Dirty Grandpa” anyone?), but I actually sat there laughing myself silly. Bad humor and horrible humor and all. I think what makes it work is the chemistry between the 4 leads. Adam Devine tears it up as the manchild that he always plays in his films and TV shows, but he and Efron have a “stupid bros” bond that feels natural and funny. Aubrey Plaza (who will be my next wife, I know to you) and Anna Kendrick also work well as the female versions of Mike and Dave. Aubrey is fantastic as the brutal and manipulative Tatiana (basically a more outgoing version of her role on “Parks and Recreation”), while Anna Kendrick is so adorable you just want to pinch her cheeks (somehow she always has that effect). Ironically there is also a lot of cross chemistry as well, with the good looking and smooth talking Zac Efron sparking with the adorable Anna, while Aubrey and Adam’s bitter and sarcastic humor works as well. there's more than enough stupidity to make this a mind numbing experience, and quite a few cliches in the comedy world, but really comedy is strangely subjective, and I ended up liking the film a lot more than I should have.




Rating:

Rated R for crude sexual content, language throughout, drug use and some graphic nudity



Video :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=80881[/img]
Shot using the ever popular Arri Alex and Red Dragon digital cameras, “Mike and Dave” pops out a very pleasing looking Blu-ray that sparkles in high definition. Shot on location in sun drenched Hawaii, the film is brightly lit with a slight honey colored tinge tot the grading, but also managing to create a fairly neutral look to the colors. Well saturated and filled with pop, the strong colors and bright sun create a very beautiful looking image. Fine detail is mostly excellent, with great detailing on clothing and the hotel backdrop, but I did notice that the image is ever so slightly soft and the clarity of the overall image suffers just a little bit. Black levels are deep and inky, and I didn’t notice any major artifacts in that department despite one or two scenes where the dreaded black crush would crop up.








Audio :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=80889[/img]
“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is first and foremost a comedy, and that brings with it all the quirks of the trade. The film is pretty heavily forward mixed for the most part, with lots and lots of dialog except for a few ambient noises at the beach, or the musical numbers that pop up to fill out the surrounds a bit. Dialog is always crisp and clear, and blends nicely with the simple sounds of a wedding reception, and more than keeps up with the crazier aspects of the film (such as when the dynamic duo try to make a jump in their quad rover, or a band of horses comes galloping through the party). LFE is clean and deep when called upon, and is mainly used as a support end for some of those wilder moments (and naturally the music as well). As I said, this is a comedy, and while it isn’t an explosive and 100% immersive action track, the 7.1 experience is quite impressive and does everything that it is asked.





Extras :3.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=80897[/img]

• 14 Deleted Scenes
• 16 Extended Scenes
• Alternate Storyline Pig Sequence
• Bits on Bits on Bits
• Line-O-Rama
• Gag Reel
• Funny Or Die Shorts
• Director Commentary
• Gallery
• Red Band Trailer
• Theatrical Trailer






Overall: :3.5stars:

Is “Mike and Dave” a good film? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But if you like a dirty comedy that allows you to check your brain at the door and giggle at moronic humor, then it does the job quite nicely. The All-star cast is charming, horribly unwitty (which is part of the humor) and enough potty humor and drug references to rival a good Seth Rogen comedy. Audio and video are great looking, and there is actually quite a bit of extras on the disc. Something that surprised me, especially due to the fact that most comedies (heh, most MOVIES) these days seem to be slim pickings in that department. While it’s not something I would go and buy on day one, “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is a fun little raunchy comedy that is definitely worth at least a good watch.


Additional Information:

Starring: Adam Devine, Zac Efron, Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick
Directed by: Jake Szymanski
Written by: Andrew Jay Cohen, Brenda O'Brien
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, English Descriptic Audio (DD 5.1), French, Spanish, Portuguese DD 5.1
Studio: Fox
Rated: R
Runtime: 99 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 27th 2016




Buy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates On Blu-ray at Amazon
Buy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates On 4K UltraHD Blu-ray at Amazon



Recommendation: Fun Watch






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