Zac Efron And Aubrey Plaza's Forgotten Comedy Movie Is Finding A New Audience On Netflix

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A comedy starring Zac Efron and Aubrey Plaza is finding new life nearly a decade after its initial release. The movie in question is "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates," which featured a star-studded cast that additionally includes the likes of Anna Kendrick ("A Simple Favor") and Adam DeVine ("Workaholics"). After being more or less forgotten, it's now re-entered the chat thanks to streaming.

"Mike and Dave Need Wedding" dates has recently been trending on Netflix after being added to the service. As of this writing, it's sitting at number four on the streamer's charts, per FlixPatrol. It was directed by Jake Szymanski, who also helmed HBO's sports spoof "7 Days in Hell" starring "Game of Thrones" veteran Kit Harington. "Mike and Dave" was a run-of-the-mill, mid-budget studio comedy — the kind of thing we used to get several times a year in theaters with such regularity that it was easy for something like this to just sort of come and go, which is exactly what happened here.

The movie centers on hard-partying brothers Mike (Adam DeVine) and Dave (Zac Efron). In order to avoid embarrassing their family, they place an online ad to find respectable dates for their sister's Hawaiian wedding. A couple of down-on-their-luck ladies named Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) spot the ad and decide to use the guys to score a free vacation to Hawaii. R-rated comedy hijinks ensue.

The film was released by 20th Century Fox several years before Disney completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox in 2019. It was a few years before the Covid-19 pandemic would upend Hollywood as we know it and before streaming became the unquestioned dominant force in the industry, which is to say it was released into a very different media landscape.

"Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" did so-so at the box office, pulling in $77 million against a $35 million budget. For its stars, it felt like the right collection of people at the right time. Anna Kendrick and Adam DeVine were coming off of "Pitch Perfect 2," which famously won a battle with "Mad Max: Fury Road" at the box office. Meanwhile, Aubrey Plaza was coming off of a seven season run on "Parks and Recreation," while Efron was coming off of a hit comedy in "Neighbors," with "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" also arriving in 2016. The cast certainly seemed right, and interestingly enough, the movie was actually based on a true story.

In 2013, real-life brothers Mike and Dave Stangle placed an ad on Craigslist looking for dates for a wedding. It quickly went viral and they ended up signing both a book and movie deal for the rights to the story. "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: And a Thousand Cocktails" was also published in 2016, coinciding with the movie's release. The movie takes serious liberties with the story.

"We didn't plan on this or see it coming at all. It was just another stupid thing we were posting online, and for some reason this one had the right ingredients to go viral," Dave Stangle said to The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. The brothers also had cameos in the comedy, during a meet and greet party in Hawaii. They lived up to their reputation.

"They showed up completely sunburned and drunk," says director Jake Szymanski. "They have a little bit of that harmless buffoonery thing that's enjoyable to watch."

You can also grab "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.