The Wrong Missy
THE WRONG MISSY - NETFLIX
The Wrong Missy is yet another collaboration between NETFLIX and Happy Madison Productions that struggles to deliver enough laughs to help it stand out amongst the crowd.
Opening with a disastrous blind date with the titular character Missy, short for Mellissa (played by Lauren Lapkus), whose overt craziness drives Tim (David Spade) to flee the scene through a bathroom window. Sometime later, Tim encounters another love interest named Mellissa (Molly Sims), someone who, in contrast to Missy, has all the traits to be Tim’s soulmate. After their brief encounter, Tim invites Mellissa to his company’s corporate retreat to an unspecified tropical island. But to Tim’s shock, he has invited the wrong Missy as he is shocked to find the date he fled from on the plane ready for the weekend away. What follows on from the simple set-up is a string of scenes displaying an increasingly vulgar and irritating Missy, as Tim must try to keep her under control in a bid to ensure he makes a good first impression on his new boss (Geoff Pierson).
Where The Wrong Missy completely falls flat is with its two leading characters. Tim is not entirely unlikeable, yet he is completely void of any defining personality traits to the point that it becomes increasingly difficult to be invested in his situation. This isn’t helped by Spade’s completely lethargic performance, seeming to be so uninterested with the project that even the most minor of characters deliver more chuckles than Spade ever manages too throughout the runtime.
On the other hand, the character of Missy has the exact opposite problem. Lapkus is a talented performer, as she gives the role of Missy the high level of energy and presence that is needed. However, Lapkus’ character is written to be so incredibly obnoxious to ensure that Tim’s disdain can be justified, yet that reprehensible nature is quickly discarded once the film decides the narrative needs to be concluded – as is Tim’s attitude toward her. Tim is quickly forced into a character arc within the final moments of the film without any narrative justification, simply by having a sudden realisation that Missy isn’t as abhorrent as he first felt she was, despite Lapkus’s character also remaining unchanged.
It isn’t all terrible, however; the film moves at a brisk enough pace with no joke lingering on long enough to cause any real level of boredom. One particular scene with Rob Schneider in a quick cameo role manages to deliver the crude humour the film strives for in a far more successful fashion when compared to the rest of the picture. Yet this isn’t enough to keep the film from falling into the same level of quality as previous collaborations between Director Tyler Spindel and Spade, as seen in 2018s Father of the Year. A film which also found its home on NETFLIX due to ongoing collaboration between the platform and Adam Sandler’s production house.
Despite the film feeling phoned in, for the most part, Lapkus puts just the right amount of effort into the role to keep fans of other Happy Madison projects entertained throughout. For others, the film may prove to be another misfire from NETFLIX and the Happy Madison crew, failing to deliver the bare minimum in the comedy genre.
THE WRONG MISSY is streaming exclusively on NETFLIX
