Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Every summer folks flock to see the giant superhero blockbusters, the big animated features for the family (That a lot of adults get more out of), large scale epics, Purge movies and some of those small films that click along the way. Forgotten among the ranks sometimes are the straight comedies and rom coms with notable casts. You gotta fill that void a couple times a month and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates was one of those movies. It felt like you couldn’t escape that trailer no matter what you went to see from the Spring until it came out. A trailer that felt it was giving away the best the film had to offer. While I kinda looked at it as one I’d wait for home video on, I still was kinda interested based on the cast. The movie was a decent sized hit while being unfavorable with the critics. But, hey, everyone has a different sense of humor.
Film 
You are cordially invited to the comedy event of the year! In order to avoid embarrassing their family, hard-partying brothers Mike and Dave place an online ad to find “respectable” dates for their sister’s Hawaiian wedding. Instead, the boys find themselves out-hustled by an uncontrollable duo. Based on hilarious true events, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is the perfect marriage of over-the-top humor and outrageous fun!
For what it’s worth, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates works “well enough” to be an enjoyable comedy, but ultimately something you’ll just kinda see and move on. Who knows, maybe some will go back and some will add a line or moment her or there to quote. The film certainly features a strong, underused and game cast that helps pull it over the home of not recommending.
Narratively, there is really nothing special about this film and runs it into the path of being completely generic. It follows the same beats and structure as 98% of romantic comedies, never being bold enough or even just slightly veering from its course. You can see every turn, every character conflict and all the resolutions coming millions of miles away. In all honesty, you probably could even pull all of that information from the trailer I mentioned that showed enough prior to the release.
Fear not, though. When it comes to that same ‘ol same ‘ol story trend, all is not lost. It then depends on the cast and the strength of the comedy they are bringing to the table. While I think its these players that make the film worthwhile, be warned that a lot of the bigger moments have already been spoiled by the trailer. In its defense, some do work still, even though you are aware that they are going to pop up by a quick cue to your memory of the preview.
I’m not sure if its a secret anymore, but Zac Efron is and has been comedic gold for the last 5 years or so. He’s finding a strength in raunchy and romantic comedies. He plays the more straight man role of the two brothers, but is able to balance the line of being goofy and over the top with fully buying into him being serious and selling some necessary dramatic pops. He shares good chemistry with his co-stars, especially Adam DeVine, who the two look to be having a blast together. Also with great chemistry are Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza (The reason I had some interest in this to begin with). Its these to actors that I actually would like to see another pair-up between in a comedy. They both bring a different style to the comedy that meshes and doesn’t feel like they are overlapping one another. While the title only has Mike and Dave named, their wedding dates are equally cared for and given as much time to share the screen once introduced.
No, this movie isn’t great, I’ve pleaded in this review for it as “good enough”. Maybe its apathetic, but I did find myself giggling decently throughout. No real big laughs, but solid pace of snickers. I’m crediting the performers with this one, though, as the script and direction didn’t feel much different than a lot of movies like this and this one easily could have been put in the Adam Sandler wheelhouse (Seriously, replace Efron and DeVine with Sandler and Kevin James and tell me you couldn’t see this going that way). Overall, its an okay way to kill about an hour and a half with a grin.
Video
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Layers: BD-66
Clarity/Detail: Mike and Dave Need Weddings Dates is a tropical movie, so its going to be vibrant and pop, looking quite lively. When compared against the Blu-ray, the beautiful looking image wasn’t as special, as its just a marginal increase over the Blu-ray image. It is noticeable, but not largely. This features a sharp, crisp image that has some more detail and depth to it than its Blu-ray counterpart. Clothing patterns, and dirt/grassy grounds are quite more finely combed. Water looks natural, smooth and details the individual waves and motions impressively. The opening act of the film is in city places and is a very solid picture, dimmer lit, but its true colors come with it goes to the wedding where everything is bright and very vivid. One of the really cool things I noticed was the level of detail on the color, texture, clarity of the liquor/champagne/wine/beer in glasses.
Depth: This is an area where you can see some significant improvement compared to the Blu-ray. Characters move much more smoothly and they appear much more well rounded, 3-dimensional and separate from their backgrounds and free in their environments. The image just appears smoother in performance and much more confident when you look at it. When the go on the ATV Jurassic Park tour, you could easily demo and compare to show the 4K advantage. Its very 3-D looking and you get much more distinct and defined details on the mountains/hills in the background. The foreground and background distancing, movements and relations perfect the depth of field as much as they can in a 2 dimensional display.
Black Levels: Blacks are much more toned and richer in this image. Scenes like the cab ride and in the bars all allow for much more detail to come through and different layers of shading. Hair follicles, dark clothing and surfaces all were able to showcase their patterns and textures better in this image. There was no crushing witnessed during this viewing.
Color Reproduction: Colors hold pretty standard in the film until the trip to Hawaii. The girls’ outfits and swimwear all pop quite well. The first dress we see Aubrey Plaza wear in Hawaii is a big stinger. In this image, the advantage is that these colors or only a hair stronger, but you can make out a bit more detail and patterns on the clothing. Greens don’t go overboard where they could have. Yellows do looking quite good and strong. There are a many colors of Blue in this palette and film, but they keep more natural in their appearance rather than any jumping off.
Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural in appearance and maintain this look for the entire runtime of the feature. Skin tones reveal stuff like freckles, red blemishing, scars, make up, lip texture, stubble, wrinkles, blood, burnt skin and more. When compared with the Blu-ray there was a big difference in skin textures and detail. Anna Kendrick’s face when you first get a medium shot of her in Hawaii was a prime example as you can see she’s got some freckles and red in her. Also, when popping in the Blu-ray, the faces looked much smoother and there was far less detail in the medium shots.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio 
Audio Format(s): English 7.1 DTS-HD MA, English 5.1 Descriptive Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Italian 5.1 DTS,
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French (Canadian), French, Spanish (Castilian), Danish, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Finnish, Mandarin (Traditional), Mandarin (Simple). Include subtitles for commentary track as well in all languages.
Dynamics: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates hits its 7.1 track with a very natural and true to life approach. The only big moments are that of musical enhancements. Music in this mix sounds very full, but never drowns out any necessary dialogue or effects. Sound effects sound very crisp, and when in bar scenes you can hear all bits of clinking classes, swishing liquids and table top pounding. The film gets right action bits when its called upon, like the fireworks sequence and the ATV tour. There’s nothing in this mix that goes overboard and the balance of tracks appears very solid.
Height: N/A
Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer gets its work going primarily with the songs played in the film’s score. Pop music gets a bump from its stronger bass bits. Other moments where its a solid contributor are a car crash, firework explosions, engines, punches and Aubrey Plaza getting hit by a car.
Surround Sound Presentation: Mike and Dave may have found wedding dates, but they did not find an Atmos track. Its wildly unnecessary for this movie as a 7.1 track is even much. It makes the best use of the track and doesn’t abuse. The sounds go round when natural and at their most effective. Sides and rear help out with music and ambiance for populated scenes and environments. Actions, as you’d assume, are accurately track front to back, side to side.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is crisp, has good diction pulling every enunciated sound and is always audible with great clarity.
Extras
Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates comes with a Blu-ray copy and an UltraViolet digital copy of the film. The 4K UHD disc only contains the commentary track as an extra. The rest of the bonus material is found on the Blu-ray disc.
Audio Commentary
- By Jake Szymanski
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Deleted Scenes (HD, 23:48)
Extended Scenes (HD, 39:12)
Alternate Storyline Pig Sequence (HD, 7:45) – Follows a subplot that was removed from the film.
Bits On Bits On Bits (HD, 6:21) – More improv bits
Line-O-Rama (HD, 10:02) – Yup, you guessed it…more improv outtakes
Gag Reel (HD, 5:27) – Oh wow…a novel concept
Funny Or Die Shorts (HD, 6:40) – Shorts that ran on the website in promotion for the film.
Summary
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is a solid comedy that is not going to be long revered, but is fun enough when you sit to watch it. This 4K UHD Blu-ray is a pretty light uptick from the Blu-ray edition (Which is included in this set) and only contains the commentary as an extra. As mentioned, those are still there on the Blu-ray that comes with the disc. If you’re gonna buy the film though, you might as well just go with this version as to keep with the up to date technology, even if you don’t have the 4K UHD player yet.
