The Wrong Missy

By: Robert Warren

When it comes to the romantic comedy The Wrong Missy it was the outlandish, zany and slapstick humor which made it so that I couldn’t help but keep my eyes glued to this Netflix original film. Thanks to the tried and true hilarious formula by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions, it was the absurd humor that kept me intrigued. Yes, there is the vulgar, in your face humor, but (surprisingly) it was actually pretty good. Is it worth a watch though? Most definitely. The Wrong Missy is a great isolation escape into this absurdist, eccentric and unconventional world of dating.

Tim (David Spade) walks over to the bar to a woman in a blue dress. He approaches the wrong woman on a blind date, leading to a very heavy confrontation with a very strong man. The actual blind date, Missy (Lauren Lapkus), watches on in humor and approaches Tim just as he is about to get in trouble. She laughs while pulling Tim to the side. So begins the actual blind date that he intended. Melissa just let Tim approach the wrong lady as a test to see how much of a man he is. As Melissa dips her hair in wine and very openly makes sexual statements Tim excuses himself to the bathroom and attempts to escape from the stall window. This horrible date ends with tragedy until things quickly get more interesting. At the airport Tim bumps into another Melissa (Molly Sims), quite literally. They mix up bags and in humor of the situation they exchange numbers. When meeting up Tim thinks he found the lady of his dreams. When Tim gets invited to his company’s retreat in Hawaii, he messages Melissa to join him. Unfortunately, as you can probably guess, it ends up being the wrong “Missy…”

There are so many big named actors (likely much of Sandler’s friends) from David Spade, Lauren Lapkus, Molly Sims, Nick Swardson and Sarah Chalke throughout the movie. The performance that really stands out in this movie is Lauren Lapkus, who bursts with energy, taking her character to very big heights such as using her hair as a mustache to crack the audience up in her zany humor.  She plays such a big performance as Missy. She is also the master of pratfalls! The one thing to know about this movie is that it’s so exaggerated that no matter how bad anyone gets hurt in the film they can come back okay.

Spade is also a standout. The movie showcases, as always, his sarcastic dry humor but that is almost to be expected when it comes to his delivery. What Lapkus does well is she fully commits to the character, willing to embarrass herself as she gives every ounce of energy she has to her performance. If you are not into the exaggerated humor; however, you may not be into it.

The one thing this movie lacks is plot. It’s a typical rom-com with a predictable story that doesn’t have much of a script. It’s mostly the actors being funny that make this movie worth the watch. This film direction is a bit boring at times, so thank goodness for good actors. You may need a soda break though to fully enjoy this film. Now, to be fair, this film does have a few surprises that are golden nuggets that make this movie gold or at least silver.

Film director Tyler Spindel uses exaggerated characters (like the aforementioned Missy) and the cinematography of this really showcased much of the beauty of Hawaii.  Some of the best scenes are when Missy transforms herself into different characters to show how crazy this woman is. One of the funniest scenes is when Tim and Missy are at the hotel in Hawaii. Missy runs into the bathroom and calls Tim to “help fix the toilet.” Then, she goes under the water in the tub and rises with rose petals over her eyes and her hair used as a mustache saying, “I am hell star, who dares enter my lair?” My favorite scene though is when Missy jumps from a cliff and you get to see how it all ends. It’s very well done cinematically and very dramatic in how it’s played. It’s a bit over the top, but it works amazingly.

Though The Wrong Missy looks like it could be another typical Happy Madison Production film where Sandler just got a bunch of his friends together and decided to film something, it actually was very enjoyable and pulled together quite nicely. It may have been very predictable in some ways, sure, but with rom-com movies you just have to accept that even if you know what’s going to happen. So, if you need something to do during isolation, have some time to kill, finished “Tiger King” and need some more entertainment or just want to escape the crazy world of COVID-19, this is a great way to do that. I recommend getting caught up in the crazy world of The Wrong Missy.