Interview: Adam Devine of “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates”

Adam Devine is a busy guy. He plays Andy on the hit television series “Modern Family” and a capella singer Bumper in the “Pitch Perfect” movies. He took time to talk to me about his wildly raunchy new comedy, “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” based on the true story of brothers who advertised on Craigslist for girls to take to their sister’s wedding.

You have an epic cry in this movie.

I’ve got a few cries in this movie. I’m a very emotional Mike Stangle. And that’s my actual cry; that’s what I look like when I cry. I’m a true mess of a human. I try not to cry often but when I do it is waterworks.

What makes somebody a good wedding date?

You need to go with the flow. You need to be willing to be cornered by that creepy uncle or weird aunt and have a decent convo with them and you know, no matter how dry the chicken is, say it is delicious. And hit up an open bar but don’t close the bar down.

The Hawaii resort location is just gorgeous. Did you have a lot of fun when you were not filming? Did you do some cool stuff?

Yes, we did all kinds of cool stuff. It was so awesome. We were there for two months so I was a Hawaiian boy for a minute. Zac and I went swimming with the sharks and it was so awesome. We weren’t even in a cage. We were in our boyshorts swimming and there were all these sharks around us and at one point this giant 13-foot tiger shark came out of the depths and Zac swam right over to it and grabbed its fin and rode it. Like an amusement ride. The video is online, you can look it up. It is bonkers and in the video you actually see my green trunks, like hard spin and swim aggressively back to the boat.

Other than your own, what’s the best wedding movie?

I love “The Wedding Crashers” because in the same vein as our movie. It’s a wedding movie but it’s not just about love and the wedding. There’s is a lot of really, really fun stuff. Sometimes I feel like if they get too hung up on the actual wedding and not enough about the fun in getting there. And I think our movie did a really good job with that.

You’re from the midwest, Iowa and Nebraska. What are weddings like there?

Midwestern weddings are awesome because it’s without fail it’s much Milwaukee’s Best as you can handle. And then you know your aunt is really weirdly proud about the beans that she brought for the reception. One uncle has cornered his high school friends to play at the reception so there’s like a really cool weird cover band that’s only covering Poison songs. So yes, I’m a huge fan of Midwestern weddings.

The movie is actually based on a true story?

At the beginning of the movie it says “based on a true story” and people are like, “Oh that’s not real.” but it 100% is actually real and Mike and Dave Stangle are everything you wanted them to be. You think “Oh they are not going to be as fun as you think they are going to be. Like in the movie these guys are super fun and party animals and crazy and then you meet them and they are the best. First of all, they came on set 11 am the first day that I met them. They were already drunk, that night they got kicked out of the Jacuzzi for making out with Australian girls and I’m like — all this cool stuff is happening the first day they get in and I’m the star of the movie and I wasn’t making out with Australian girls, I need to take a page out of the real Mike and Dave Stangle’s playbook.

I think they just go for it. They are the type of guys that, they just do everything until they are made to stop as opposed to asking for permission. They are like “Yes, it will be fine, and then “Would we be kicked out if we take it too far?” And I think that’s a good way to live your life if you want to have the best and most fun.

How did you and Zac Efron work out your brotherly chemistry?

I knew Zac a little bit. Not very well but we went to Hawaii a couple weeks early to sort of bond and rehearse and take scenes and improve them together and when you are shooting something on location and we don’t know anyone there, it was easy to bond with your castmates because you don’t have anyone else to hang out with. And Zac is like the best guy in the world so it super easy to become really good friends with him. And Sugar Lyn who plays our sister — I mean her name is Sugar for a reason. She is truly the sweetest girl you’ve ever met. So it was real easy to love her guts. And Anna and Aubrey are so funny and such good actresses and they really brought it. In fact, I would say for a lots of the movie their characters are way crazier than Mike and Dave. We are trying to hold it together for the family and they really get to let it fly. So it’s a really fun movie. It’s not like a movie where only the guys are going to like it or only the girls are going to like it. It’s really a type of movie that everyone can come and watch and have a good time. It’s not a remake; it’s not a reboot. It’s an original comedy that’s super funny and I’m willing to say that it’s definitely the funniest movie that you’ll see this year.