The Wrong Missy

A typically lazy Happy Madison comedy, The Wrong Missy follows David Spade’s Tim Morris as he accidentally invites Lauren Lapkus’ annoying Melissa to a Hawaii-based work retreat. (He had actually intended to bring Molly Sims’ similarly-named Melissa along instead.) It’s a workable premise that’s employed to predictably hit-and-miss effect by Tyler Spindel, as the filmmaker, working from a script by Kevin Barnett and Chris Pappas, generally emphasizes lowest-common-denominator-type jokes and gags that are hardly as hilarious as he’s obviously intended – with the assortment of eye-rollingly obvious bits of comedy slowly-but-surely rendering the picture’s positive attributes moot. There’s little doubt, then, that The Wrong Missy‘s relatively tolerable atmosphere is due almost entirely to the efforts of its performers, with Spade’s expectedly ingratiating work here matched by a pleasantly eclectic supporting cast that includes Sarah Chalke, Geoff Pierson, and Rob Schneider. (And it’s worth noting, too, that Lapkus eventually manages to transform her initially grating character into a somewhat sympathetic figure.) The almost excessively conventional bent of the movie’s third act ensures that the whole thing peters out to a fairly distressing (and demonstrable) degree, which ultimately cements The Wrong Missy‘s place as just another disposable comedy from Adam Sandler’s inexplicably successful production company.

** out of ****