Jake Szymanski makes his feature directorial debut with the zeitgeist comedy, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, after helming short form comedies on “Funny or Die.”
Hard-partying brothers Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) place an online ad to find the perfect dates (Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza) for their sister’s Hawaiian wedding. Hoping for a wild getaway, the boys instead find themselves outsmarted and out-partied by the uncontrollable duo.
Mike and Dave Stangle are young, adventurous, fun-loving–and obnoxious. The “some” would include other members of the Stangle family. So when their sister Jeanie announces she’s getting married, the family holds an intervention, demanding that Mike and Dave bring dates. Respectable dates!
The reason for the intervention is revealed through quick flashbacks that recall the guys’ antics over the years at Stangle family gatherings. Everyone’s having a good time, things are going smoothly, and then Mike and Dave show up stag, get drunk, hit on the girls, act like idiots and ruin the celebration. Therefore, dates!
To fulfill their family’s request Mike and Dave turn to the best source of decent, respectable girls they can think of: Craigslist. They place an ad promising that their selected companions will receive an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii and the chance to participate in all of the Stangle family wedding-related activities.
The ad goes viral, and the response is so overwhelming that Mike and Dave have no choice but to audition the candidates. They meet with nice girls, grungy girls, weird girls, paranoid girls, militant girls, twin girls that look like guys, girls that are guys.
The dates they hadn’t counted on are Tatiana and Alice. They seek out the brothers and charm their way into the winning spot as wedding dates.
Weddings—and Mike and Dave—will never be the same.
The director says: “The Stangle family is very tightly-knit, even when they disagree. They’re very proud of being Stangles, so they’re just trying to have one family event that doesn’t get completely screwed up by Mike and Dave.”
The core of the film’s comedy and much of its heart is the brotherly bond between the two guys. “Mike and Dave are close,” states Szymanski. “They’ve grown up together, still live together, work together, party together, and ultimately learn some lessons together.”
One of those lessons stems from their determination to not screw up their sister Jeanie’s destination wedding. “Mike and Dave love Jeanie and Jeanie loves them, as well,” Szymanski continues. “She just wants her special day to go without a hitch.”
