Late on a dark, cold Thursday in the English winter and THN find themselves in deepest East London, literally standing in the shadows on the London Stadium, now the proud home of West Ham United, but of course, it will always be the remembered as the Olympic Stadium and remain a glowing tribute to that glorious summer of 2012.
We’re not here to stand about admiring that big old round thing though, we’re here to get absolutely hammered.
We’ve gone stag (turned up alone), to an event to celebrate the home release of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (above), the outrageous new comedy starring Zac Efron and Adam Levine, flying solo having obviously not paid attention to the basic premise of the movie – which goes as follows…
‘Mike and Dave’ revolves around hard-partying brothers Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) who place an online ad to find “respectable” dates for their sister’s Hawaiian wedding, to avoid embarrassing their family. Instead, the boys find themselves out-hustled by an uncontrollable duo (Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza). The story is remarkably based on hilarious true events, and we’re here at The Bat and Ball bar in Westfield, Stratford to partake in a little ping/ beer pong, and hopefully recreate some of the carnage depicted in the movie. Oh, and for further information on The Bat and Ball Westfield please visit www.thebatandball.com or email at bookings@batandballwestfield.
THN finds themselves immediately hankered though, as this reporter is probably as old as Mike and Dave put together (with half the muscle), and our victims opponents, of the correct demographic, have turned up late but seem dead serious on taking us out. We start with the timeless bar game of pool, hitting the nearest table, gleefully accepting an initial challenge.
After getting completely demolished in a matter of minutes, seemingly without having touched a ball, we throw down our stick (the technical term for the thing you hit the balls with), and move to one of the many ping pong tables in this mighty establishment. This feels more natural, and, with the beers continuously poured down our necks to fuel us, and starting to kick in quite nicely, we pick up a paddle and take on the next challenger.
We immediately begin to feel our flow and actually win a couple of points!
Success soon leads failure and fatigue, and our host, who is totting up the points and keeping score, is shaking her head. We’ve managed to fall way behind once again, and as even more beer is thrusted into our hands, it’s proper game time and we go all in.
Back and forth, a rally is in full swing, our bodies being forced further and further away from the shrinking table with sheer force of of the play. It’s match point, and everything is on the line here, our pride for one as our youthful opponent strikes the ball straight for us.
… and then it’s all over.
The ball narrowly misses our paddle, cruelly clipping it, teasing us with the soft contact. We’ve lost, yet again. Our challenger throws up their arms in glory, which is fair enough. We’re not here for the sport, we’ve come here all stag to get hammered, which is the one this we seem to be succeeding at.
All was not lost though, this was our next challenge…
Admitting defeat at the ‘sports’ and celebrating winning the food-eating challenge above, we sit back, another beer in hand to tuck in to the real reason for this evening, to actually watch the film.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is actually very funny throughout. While lewd, and very crude in places, most of it coming from the two ladies above, the film has a lot of heart, and is tons of fun. Zac Efron is back to his best and delivers a level of comedy as good as his work on the two Bad Neighbours films, as does the brilliant Adam Levine.
It’s an absolute hoot and we really urge you to check it out – with a date even? For us, we leave date-less, though with a lot more love in hearts and a ton of food and drink in our bellies.
MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES IS AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY AND DVD ON 12TH DECEMBER.
For further information on The Bat and Ball Westfield please visit www.thebatandball.com or email at bookings@batandballwestfield.
