Note: May be some minor spoilers throughout, but will try to keep them to a minimum.
I went into this movie with some low expectations, just based on my thoughts that this movie was thrown together and was never really supposed to be a movie anyway. It is loosely based on actual events, as these two guys did post on Craigslist to find dates to their sister's wedding, but it is my understanding that essentially everything in the movie is completely fabricated. I do like Adam Devine and Anna Kendrick has been fantastic in everything I have seen, but that wasn't enough for me to really go out of my way for this one, but I was in the mood for a comedy and it was the only option that I hadn't already seen, so I decided I would give it a go anyway. It ended up being much better than I expected, and wasn't just some cheap, gross-out comedy, like what I first believed.
As I mentioned above, the premise of the movie is that these two guys, that are known to their family as constant failures and mess-ups, are invited to their sister's wedding, but the family wants them to find actual dates so they aren't just their normal selves. This leads to them having the idea to post an ad on Craigslist because they had found a couch that they both loved on Craigslist and so thought it made the most sense. After a lot of failed dates, they come across two equal failures and mess-ups who have conned themselves into the dates so they can get a free trip to Hawaii. From their on, the movie plays out like any other similar romantic comedy you have seen, with some obvious humor thrown in as we get to the obvious but sensible enough ending to this whole façade.
The performances were pretty well done by everyone, especially the four main leads. I was a little disappointed that Anna Kendrick ended up being the least impressive of the group, as she was a little too restrained instead of given full rein as Aubrey Plaza was given. Adam Devine was easily the funniest of the four, as I would expect, and I thought that Zac Efron actually did a rather good performance, although his timing could have been a little better with some of his more humorous scenes. I just felt that he was better off staying as the straight man to Adam's funny guy routine.
Most of the scenes throughout the movie were on par with typical R rated comedies on the market, with not a lot of scenes that stood out as extremely different from other movies. I also didn't think there were a lot of just weak scenes, as all the scenes worked for the most part and kept the story plodding along to the end. There was one exception to this, and that was a very interesting massage parlor scene that was easily the biggest payoff of the whole movie, which actually comprised of two different scenes happening concurrently. I can honestly say that while not a lot of the movie will stick with me in say a year from now, but that one scene will likely stick with me anytime mentions this movie in the future.
The movie didn't break the mold for romantic comedies, but it is a pretty enjoyable hour and a half if you are just looking for something to laugh at and not have to spend too much time thinking or worrying about the plot. I really didn't think I would enjoy it very much, but I had a better time with it than I thought I would, and so I guess I would say the movie was a success at least from that standpoint. I think the movie maybe could have been marketed a bit better to get the point across that it was a romantic comedy first, and then a typical R rated comedy second, and it may have had some more success. I think they probably could have left out the part about it being loosely based on actual events as well, as I think that made me have some preconceived thoughts about the movie that drew away from the film as opposed to making me more interested in it.
My rating for the movie is 7/10
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