MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES

Call it "insane and insaner."  Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is a comedy where everything is loud, over the top, and pretty predictable.  The fact that it's loosely based on a true story doesn't diminish any of that at all.

Mike Stangle (Adam Levine) and his younger brother Dave (Zac Efron) are amazingly close: They live together, they work together selling beer, and they party together at all their family events.  The latter is is a problem, as they get each other worked up and wind up causing mayhem and destruction.

The latter is a problem for Mike and Dave's parents (Stephen Root, Stephanie Faracy), who are concerned that the brothers' antics will ruin the upcoming Hawaii wedding of their sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard) and Eric (Sam Richardson).  The parents want the brothers to bring "nice girls" to the wedding, to keep them calm.  Mike and Dave's Craigslist search for dates (offering a free trip to Hawaii) goes viral, even getting them an appearance on TV with Wendy Williams.

Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick) are best friends and wrecks: Alice is an emotional wreck after being left at the altar, and the pair are always drunk or stoned, broke, unemployed, living in squalor,and pretty much out of control.  They see Mike and Dave's offer as a free vacation, so they make themselves out to be nice girl (a teacher and a hedge fund manager) and get Mike and Dave to invite them to the wedding.

Once everyone's in Hawaii, things quickly get out of control.  Mike keeps pursuing Tatiana, who keeps him at arms length; she's also pursued by Cousin Terry (Alice Wetterlund), who has a rivalry with Mike.  Alice seems to be falling for Dave, but all the wedding festivities have her somewhat traumatized; she also somehow becomes best friends with Jeanie.  And while Tatiana and Alice are always drinking and cursing, somehow they're loved by all and the brothers get blamed for any problems.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is pretty much what many summer movies are but shouldn't be.  There is zero subtlety here, from Adam Levine shouts his lines to the most over-the-top sex scene since The Bronze to virtually all the characters curse up a storm from start to finish,  The story is utterly predictable (wacky hijinks, wedding in peril, self-awareness, redemption, happy ending) and none of the jokes are great or memorable.   I like a lot of the cast here, but the occasional chuckle doesn't make up for the majority of this movie.

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch