Loosely based on a true story, this one stars Zac Efron and Adam Devine as Dave and Mike Stangle, two brothers who take Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) to the Hawaiian wedding of their sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard). Mike and Dave may be the ones with their names in the title, but it's the titanic trio of Tatiana, Alice and Jeanie who prove to be the marquee attractions. Extras include audio commentary by LaLoggia an introduction by LaLoggia behind-the-scenes footage deleted scenes a photo gallery and the theatrical trailer.Īubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (Photo: Fox) The Shout! Factory Blu-ray contains the original theatrical cut, the Director's Cut (five minutes longer), and the Extended Director's Cut (13 minutes longer). And while LaLoggia and cinematographer Russell Carpenter (an Oscar winner for Titanic) visually capture '60s small-town life in all its golden nostalgic hues, the clumsy inclusion of racial material leads to a tragedy that doesn't affect the principal plot in any way whatsoever and merely ends up feeling forced and distasteful. But rarely has the identity of a killer been as glaringly obvious as it proves to be here, and that cuts the legs out from under the picture almost immediately.
Writer-director Frank LaLoggia's primary strength is in crafting a loving and believable family dynamic between Frankie, his older brother Geno (Jason Presson) and their widowed dad Al (Alex Rocco), and these scenes are among the movie's best - even if the comic relief from the grandparents Mama Assunta (Renata Vanni) and Papa Charlie (Angelo Bertolini) eventually reaches nails-on-the-chalkboard levels of buffoonery. It turns out she's but one victim of a madman who's been slaughtering children for approximately a decade, and Frankie's own close encounter with the murderer sets him on the path toward uncovering the twin mysteries involving the killer's identity and the dead girl's lineage. Set in 1962, the film stars Lukas Haas (the wee witness in Witness) as Frankie Scarlatti, a young boy who, having been locked overnight in a school cloakroom by a pair of classmates, sees a ghostly girl reliving her murder right before his eyes.
There's wasted potential to spare in Lady in White, a low-key ghost tale that does just enough right to make the overall disappointment more pronounced. Lukas Haas in Lady in White (Photo: Shout! Factory & MGM)