Well if I was Anna Kendrick I would fire my agent.... preferably out of a cannon.

I really think this film was greenlit solely on an idea and without a script which was made up as the film went along.

Mike (Adam Devine) and his younger brother Dave (Zac Efron) are always causing chaos and embarrass their parents. So they are asked by their parents to bring dates for their sister's wedding in Hawaii which means they will behave themselves. I have no idea why the parents never thought that they might bring two chaotic idiots.

This is exactly what happens. After an internet search they meet Tatiana (Audrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick) who are two wild party girls who pretend to be respectable and responsible in order to be their wedding dates in Hawaii where they plan to cut loose.

The film is just badly structured, it wants to be a bad taste, high jinks film like Neighbours or The Hangover but the script is poor, even boring with a few key set pieces such as the quad bike scene but the actors have to resort to silliness just to pad out the film.

There are a few laughs to be had but the film is dreadful, interminable, inconsistent in pace and tone. At least the actors got a trip in Hawaii out of it.

Looking through reviews I can see that I might be an exception, but I loved the movie. The story is about two brothers who need to find dates for their little sister's Hawaii wedding and make an ad. The two wild girls pretend to be good girls so they are chosen.

And it is hilarious all the way through. I was really laughing out loud through most of it. It is not some super clever comedy but it makes one laugh and this is what I need from this kind of movie. We live in a bit of depressing times so it is nice to see this kind of comedy just to relax and laugh.

The characters are all great. Fun people, made me remember the good times of living with my best friend and doing crazy things. And of course the fact that the actors are all talented comedians makes it even better.

Love comedy, there are some great ones out there from every decade and with all kinds of humour (whether it's sophisticated, witty, camp, satirical, dark or vulgar). Silly comedy can be done well, providing it doesn't go overboard. Low-brow comedy is not always done badly, though usually it's my least favourite type of comedy.

'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates' just didn't do it for me. Can totally understand the mixed critical and audience reaction, especially the many misgivings people have of the film. Seeing as it was based on a true story and have liked some of Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick and Zac Efron's other stuff (even if not a huge fan of either),'Mike and Dave Need Wedding' had potential to be a halfway decent film. It actually started out on a semi-promising note, with a few sporadically semi-amusing moments, a good set up and it was when the humour and performances didn't go overboard. Then it started to fall apart from the ATV scene and took a turn for the weird halfway through.

There are a few good things. The two best performances come from Plaza (though some are going to disagree with this) and Efron. Plaza is in a samey sort of role, but the deadpan nature of it suits her well (though she is best known to me for her work in Seasons 11 and 12 of 'Criminal Minds' as one of the show's best unsubs),the muted indifference and broad farce that critics have picked up on fits with the material and she plays it perfectly.

Efron's role is bland, but he does play him straight with a likable charm that was a refreshing counter-balance with the over-acting from most of the rest of the cast. Some of the scenery looks good.

However, a lot doesn't work. Kendrick just doesn't fit the material, being better known and more suited to girl-next-door roles, her role requires a broader approach and she is too bland in it and over-compensates in the latter parts of the film. Most of the rest of the cast are underused, and consist of a strange mix of disinterested and overdone. Worst of all are Adam Devine and Sugar Lynn Beard. Devine tries far too hard and comes over as insufferably irritating, especially in the facial expressions and the shouting. Beard constantly sounds like she is on helium and her "acting" in the massage scene especially is embarrassing. The chemistry between the actors just isn't there, due to the overacting and mish-mash of acting styles.

Can sort of forgive the predictability of the story (the speaker system scene could be seen coming from miles away),can't forgive how disjointed and random it's structured and how everything ends so too-conveniently and resolved in such a hasty manner. The characters may have been intended to be shallow and juvenile, the film however takes this to extremes and makes them mostly without any likable or interesting qualities, only annoying. The only halfway likable character is Dave and he is also bland in development.

Soundtrack is forgettable at best and the direction is barely existent. 'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates' even fails in making Hawaii, one of the world's most beautiful places, look good with some of it looking very straight-to-video quality. A big dishonourable mention in this regard is in the ATV scene, which contains some of the cheapest and worst looking photography and editing for any film seen in any film recently.

Biggest problem with 'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates' is that a vast majority of the time it just isn't funny. A few semi-amusing moments to start with but as said from the ATV scene onward it falls apart where things become increasingly witless and vulgar to the point of being stretched to breaking point. The massage (a particularly distasteful scene that went on too long and should have been cut),sauna, ecstasy and argument in the hotel room scenes induce a mega cringe-factor especially. Too many scenes are also dragged out where severely affects the timing which comes over as limp and the jokes become unfunny consequently.

Dialogue has far too much of a vulgar edge to the point a lot of it falls into uncomfortable distaste. Things seemed to take a turn for the downright weird halfway through, with some attempts at seriousness when there are various revelations made that are executed in a forced and seen from a mile off way.

In summary, a few decent things are not enough to save a poorly done film on most levels. 3/10 Bethany Cox