Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

There’s a battle of the sexes at the core of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, with both sides clamoring to be the most dim-witted and obnoxious.

But there’s no winner here — not Mike and Dave, nor their titular female counterparts, nor certainly moviegoers who endure this raunchy romantic comedy that introduces some of the most shallow and superficial characters in recent memory, then asks the audience to sympathize with their behavior. You could award points for sheer audacity, even if it’s unintentional.

The title is pretty self-explanatory, as slacker siblings Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) have a reputation for outrageous antics that ruin family events in embarrassing fashion. So when it comes to the impending Hawaiian wedding of their younger sister (Sugar Lyn Beard), the relatives devise a safeguard — forcing them to bring responsible dates to the ceremony that will keep them in line.

Without any appropriate female acquaintances in their circle, the guys hatch a plan to advertise on Craigslist, offering a free trip to Hawaii in exchange for a weekend’s worth of companionship. After generating significant publicity, the two chosen respondents are Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza), an airhead duo whose sincerity masks ulterior motives for an island vacation filled with sex and booze. Who could blame them?

The film claims to be inspired by true events — and indeed, there were two guys named Mike and Dave who went viral after advertising for wedding dates online a few years ago — yet it couldn’t feel more detached from reality.

There are some scattered laughs among the sight gags and one-liners in the screenplay by the tandem of Andrew Cohen and Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors). And at least Efron and Devine generate an infectious oddball chemistry that makes the film’s lazy predictability easier to tolerate.

However, the thin material is assembled in slapdash fashion by director Jake Szymanski, a veteran of sketch comedy shows making his feature debut. Many of the jokes feel labored, such as an extended sequence set at a message parlor that fails to connect.

Along the way, Mike and Dave feels just as desperate as its two main characters. Aggressively vulgar while straining to be outrageous, it’s like one of those rehearsal-dinner toasts remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Rated R, 98 minutes.