We’ve all been there. Ya know, texting the wrong person by accident. I’ve certainly had my fair share of cringe-worthy text mistakes.
Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison takes this concept to the extreme with its latest Netflix comedy, The Wrong Missy. While the film is replete with the type of humor you’d expect from David Spade, it fell flat in comparison to some of its predecessors.
In a pre-COVID world, I’d call this a straight-up hit and miss. However, between social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and a ridiculous deficit of toilet paper, Netflix may have dropped just what the world needs right now.
Spade’s sheer terror throughout the film coupled with leading lady Lauren Lapkus’s outlandish behavior definitely churned out a few laughs. Probably more than you’d expect. But, again, am I in the right mindset right now? Absolutely not. Stir crazy? Yep.
Spade’s character, Tim, is a nice change of pace for the comedian. He plays a broken-hearted credit agency employee who has just reentered the dating scene after breaking up with his fiancée. His first blind date is the epitome of disaster. Melissa, a.k.a. Missy (Lapkus), turns out to be completely unhinged and obnoxious – leading Tim to do the only thing he could think of: escape via the men’s bathroom window.
Fast-forward and we find Tim at the airport, accidentally colliding with a woman named Melissa (Molly Sims) as he rushes to catch his flight. In his haste, he grabs the wrong suitcase, leading to an afternoon of good conversation and flirting at the bar with this other Melissa. After their encounter, Tim establishes (what he believes) is a texting/sexting relationship with this beautiful Melissa; inviting her to Hawaii for his company retreat.
To our (insanely predictable) surprise, the whacked-out, unhinged Missy climbs into the seat next to him on his flight to Hawaii. Cue Tim’s ‘oh crap’ moment when he realizes he has made a terrible mistake.
Now stuck in Hawaii with the wrong Missy, Tim watches from the sidelines as she acts like a hot mess. From jumping off a cliff and missing the ocean (normal survival rate = zero) to absurd psychic readings, we are fed a string of embarrassing and awkward mishaps that turn out to work in Tim’s favor.
Of course, we get the anticipated and cliche moment when Missy discovers Tim’s mistake – and for the first time in the film, I didn’t feel like punching her in the face. I actually felt a smidge of empathy. I mean, she read word-for-word texts of Tim dumping on her. That’s no fun.
I’m sure anyone could guess how this scenario played out – Tim winds up falling for the wrong Missy. Gasp. Sure, the flick was nothing new and incredibly cheesy. But, let’s face it, the world needs some cheese right now. Seriously, take the cheese.
Either typing away on my keyboard or nose-deep in a good book. Say hi to me on Twitter @Kkantro.
