The Wrong Missy (2020)

“The Wrong Missy” stars David Spade, Lauren Lapkus, Geoff Pierson, Sarah Chalke, and Molly Sims.  Released on Netflix on May 13, 2020, the film is about a man who accidentally invites a blind date to his work retreat.

The film is directed by Tyler Spindel, who is known for directing “Father of the Year”.  So far this year, I have watched and reviewed at least four original films that came out on Netflix, and with the pandemic still going on, there will be more where those came from, for better or for worse.  In case you haven’t read my reviews for those Netflix films, let’s just say that Mark Wahlberg in an action thriller and Ed Helms in a buddy cop comedy didn’t appeal to me that much compared to Chris Hemsworth rescuing a teen and a bunch of children getting rid of their bone-headed parents.  In other words, the streaming service’s original content this year was a hit-and-miss in terms of film so far.  This next film from Netflix I’ll be looking at today is (surprise, surprise) another project from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions, the same production company that is responsible for such comedies as “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”, “Grown Ups”, “Jack and Jill”, and “The Ridiculous 6”.  This is also the latest collaboration between David Spade and director Tyler Spindel, following 2018’s “Father of the Year”, which is another Netflix film produced by Happy Madison Productions.  I haven’t exactly watched that film, and based on the reviews it’s getting, it’s pretty obvious that I’m not ready to watch it just yet.  I remembered watching the trailer for this a while ago just to see what the concept is like, and I can already tell that the word “idiotic” is plastered all over the place.  Typical Sandler.  Always trying to make some critics cringe with fury with his crazy ideas.  But as a respectable reviewer, I can only judge this film by watching it all the way through, whether I like it or not.  With that in mind, let’s see if this so-called “romantic comedy" has enough substance to impress some of its target audience.  Keep in mind that the keyword is “some”.

The story follows Tim Morris (Spade), a man who runs into a beautiful woman named Missy (Sims).  After having a wonderful first date with Missy, Tim decides to invite her to his work retreat.  However, he makes a huge mistake and accidentally invites another woman (Lapkus) who shares the same name as the woman of his dreams instead.  That woman, who’s also named Missy, is a deranged blind date that Tim met in the past.  Now he has to survive the retreat with Missy #2 in order to keep his sanity while attempting to impress his boss.  This is obviously a film that has “Adam Sandler” written all over it when it comes to the humor and a bunch of familiar faces like Spade, Nick Swardson, and Rob Schneider.  It also has plenty of cliches that you’ve come to expect from Sandler’s other romantic comedies like “50 First Dates”, “Just Go With It”, and “Blended”.  So if you’re hoping that this film will offer plenty of surprises in its formula, do me a favor and throw that piece of hope out of that brain of yours because you’re not going to find a single one in this piece of “Sandler Theater”.  This is another rom-com that goes through the motions without offering something to keep some of its viewers from switching over to “Tiger King” or whatever is popular on Netflix right now.  It’s very straightforward, but it is also unsatisfying.  The message it’s trying to provide was undoubtedly thoughtful, but the journey in delivering that message will depend on your tolerance level.  Aside from its tolerable third act, the film is nothing but a series of comical mishaps that are backed up by notable cliches, forgettable humor, and an uninspired script.  The only thing that I thought was passable was Lauren Lapkus, who is known for starring in the Netflix show “Orange Is the New Black”.  She plays “The Wrong Missy”, in case you forgot.  In terms of her character’s psychotic personality, she fit the role quite well.  Even though Missy is the type of character that you either love or hate because of their actions, I can’t help but give Lapkus some sort of credit for envisioning this kind of role flawlessly.  Heck, I would even say that her performance was better than David Spade, who I thought was okay in the film as Tim.  Poor guy can’t seem to catch a break nowadays.  As for the rest of the cast, they don’t have a lot of special moments either.  Nick Swardson wasn’t all that great as Nate, and Rob Schneider…well…he tried.  Another thing I would like to mention is the film’s humor.  Most of the films that Sandler and his pals were involved in provided a series of jokes that were either crude, controversial, ridiculous, unfunny, or all of the above, with the biggest offenders being “Jack and Jill” and “That’s My Boy”.  While the humor in “The Wrong Missy” was far from insulting, the sex-related jokes might make you not want to have one for at least a couple of days.  The jokes in this film are more ridiculous and unfunny than offensive, so people who are worried about them being the latter shouldn’t have to be concerned over it, although they will still be disappointed in the film due to its lack of memorable laughs.  The part where Missy falls off the cliff didn’t even come close to being both funny and painful.  Spoiler alert: It’s actually more painful than hilarious.

Overall, “The Wrong Missy” might entertain a few people who enjoyed some of the other works from Happy Madison Productions, but for those outside of its target audience, it’s a blind date that no one wants to hang out with.  Aside from Lapkus’ performance and its third act, the film is a disappointing romantic comedy that fails to deliver on both the romance and the comedy.  It’s not the worse film I’ve seen on Netflix this year, but it is something that I would easily forget a few days after watching it.

D