The new comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates focuses on two brothers who go on a search to find a couple of "nice girls" to be their dates for their sister's wedding. They quickly find themselves in over their heads, though, when the girls they picked turn out to be raunchy, shameless, and hilariously accident-prone. The narrative as a whole is fictional, but the setup of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is based on the true story of two brothers who posted a Craigslist ad to find dates for their cousin's special day. No, seriously, it actually happened, and there are photos of Mike and Dave Stangle to prove it.
According to their ad, the guys took to Craiglist to find dates because they didn't want to lead on any of the "fringe women" in their lives by asking them to go (I know, charming...). So they instead chose the route of posting an extravagantly long Craigslist ad in which they outlined what they were looking for in dates and talked up their own desirability. They also included a photo of themselves as centaurs. I realize it might seem hard to believe that these are two real people, but don't take my word for it — see the below photos of the real-life Stangle brothers for proof.
All Dressed Up
Here are the guys at the Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates premiere in LA on June 29.
Palling Around
With Anna Kendrick (who plays one of their dates in the movie) at an appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
In The Holiday Spirit
Ugly Christmas sweaters FTW.
Looking For Love
Behold, the guys' real-life Tinder profiles.
Chowing Down
Complete with napkin bibs.
All In This Together
Doing press for the new movie with the cast and crew.
Gettin' Cheesy
Another quick pic from the Wedding Dates premiere.
Watching Themselves
The brothers caught their own appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
Taking Over
Mike and Dave commandeered The Wendy Williams Show's Snapchat as a part of promo for the movie.
With Fake Mike And Dave
Joking around with their onscreen counterparts, Zac Efron and Adam Devine.
As you can see, the Stangle brothers are clearly real people. They've definitely had a lot of adventures as a result of posting that Craiglist ad, and it has all led to an even bigger — albeit fictional — adventure onscreen. Ah, the power of the Internet.
Images: 20th Century Fox, Janina/Twitter, Dave Stangle/Instagram (2), Mike and Dave Stangle/Tinder, Mike Stangle/Instagram (2), IMDb/Twitter, Wendy Williams/Twitter, Erika Scuderi/ Twitter