Adam Sandler has produced and starred in several classic films, including Grown Ups, Just Go With It, Bedtime Stories and more. Over time, audiences have come to be acquainted with Sandler’s crew of actors that frequently appear in his films, including David Spade, Nick Swardson, Rob Schneider and more.
Netflix’s newest original film produced by Adam Sandler is The Wrong Missy, which stars all three — Spade, Swardson and Schneider — as well as Sandler’s wife, Jackie, and several other recognizable faces from Sandler’s crew, but doesn’t even begin to come close to the expectation set by some of Sandler’s other great films.
In fact, The Wrong Missy may be one of Netflix’s worst yet, with embarrassing scenes, slow pacing and ridiculous screenwriting.
The premise is simple: after going through a difficult breakup, Tim (Spade) is looking to date again. After a blind date gone horribly wrong with Melissa, or Missy, (Lauren Lapkus), Tim meets the woman of his dreams in an airport whose name is also Melissa (Molly Sims). In an attempt to win Melissa over, he invites her to Hawaii for a corporate retreat, only to realize he invited the wrong Melissa when crazy Missy shows up on the flight.
However, after spending more and more time with her, Tim starts to realize that Missy isn’t who he thought she was.
It’s quite a predictable premise, but that’s not the nail in the film’s coffin. It’s attempt to be quirky and cringe-y with the humor combined with how painstakingly slow-paced it is results in a product that’s just downright embarrassing. The screenwriting is entirely too tacky, down to the misunderstanding of Missy being suicidal and relying on Tim to save her life.
The screenwriting also fails miserably with the unearned character development. It’s like Missy’s character does a 180-degree turn in the middle of the film to start acting somewhat normal and cute toward Tim, making him see another side of her. It’s completely unwarranted and makes no sense to the standard her character had been setting throughout the entirety of the film. Not to mention the plotline where Tim’s ex-fiancee is suddenly jealous of his relationship with Missy, which comes completely out of left field.
One of the only bright spots of the film comes from Lapkus’ commitment to playing Missy: a ridiculously outlandish and loud woman with not an ounce of shame. However, the rest of the cast is just like watching some of Sandler’s gifted comedian friends poorly act in a film. It’s almost distracting from the film itself because it feels like they’re all simply portraying themselves — or at least their assigned character type.
To sum it up, The Wrong Missy had one line in the film that was even remotely funny, and it wasn’t even delivered by one of the main characters. It’s a film that’s disappointingly predictable and either needs to be completely reworked and allow room for these actors to play interesting characters, or it just needs to have not been released at all.
