Electrified_Voltage
This is a PG-13 rated film which came into theatres when I was a little less than 9½ years old, so I was too young to see it and never heard of it at the time. Sometime probably in the late nineties, I noticed a copy of "Mr. Wrong" in the video store, and after that happened, I could remember the front cover but not the title. It wasn't until probably sometime within the past couple years that I finally came across a copy of it again, and this time, I saw that the woman on the front cover was Ellen DeGeneres. I wouldn't have recognized her the first time I saw that cover, and am still not THAT familiar with her work, but at least I found her amusing as the voice of Dory in "Finding Nemo". This film, however, has left me flabbergasted, and not in a good way! Martha Alston is a shy talk show producer who is still single at the age of 31, when she watches her younger sister get married. The older Alston sister is pressured by her parents and coworkers to find her true love, but things don't look good for her after an unsuccessful blind date on Valentine's Day. Depressed, she goes to a bar, where she meets a charming man named Whitman Crawford, and soon falls in love. So, does this mean Martha's search is over and she has finally found her Mr. Right? Well, it certainly does look like it at first, but unfortunately, it doesn't last. After a while, it's clear to her that Whitman is actually a nutcase, and not a 100% law-abiding citizen. When Martha wants to break up with him, he just won't get a clue, and it doesn't help that his jealous and insane ex-girlfriend, Inga Gunther, who has a big accomplice named Bob, threatens violence on Martha if she doesn't stay away from Whitman! For much of the film, I wasn't sure if I had any right to judge it. Nothing was making me laugh, and I found the beginning of Martha and Whitman's relationship to be badly scripted and not the only part the can be described that way. However, I was wondering if the film was actually bad, or I just wasn't getting it. I did some research before watching "Mr. Wrong" and heard it described as a "chick flick," and I'm not female. As I watched, that "chick flick" description was making sense to me. If I had the same feeling throughout the film, I doubt I would be writing a review of it, but things change later on. To me, it remained unfunny, but eventually got really weird and little disturbing! Towards the end, it no longer looked like much of a "chick flick" to me. It basically just looked like one insane story! Bill Pullman is quite lame as Whitman, a character who seems to be a maniac for the sake of being a maniac, and Joan Cusack is also lame here, in the role of Inga, and I've certainly seen her do much better. Watching these characters putting poor Martha through a nightmarish adventure is not fun! Even if this didn't do well back when it was released fifteen years ago and is still somewhat obscure today, it does seem to have a following. I've looked at the votes for this film, and have seen that the female rating is bit higher than the male one, but still certainly not high. Even if this 1996 romantic comedy has more female fans than male, it clearly has impressed some male viewers, and even with the "chick flick" label, there are definitely female viewers dislike it more than I do. Many of those who like "Mr. Wrong" might say that I'm of the wrong gender to get this film, and/or I don't have the right experience to get it, and they may be right, especially with the latter, but I will still say that I personally agree with the low rating here. If you like this film, regardless of your gender, that's cool with me, and I'm still not 100% sure whether I should have written this review or not, but there's not a single film in the world that can impress absolutely everybody who sees it, and I think I will always be one who doesn't like this particular romantic comedy, for whatever reason.
Yonzie
My girlfriend told me to tape this from TV and I had no idea what it was about. Initially I was pleasantly surprised by seeing Bill Pullman in a lead role. The last movie I saw featuring him was "While You Were Sleeping" which I thought was great.Mr. Wrong starts out reasonably good, but fairly quickly the stupidness becomes too much. Ultimately, it is made bearable by good acting from Degeneres and Pullman and a lot of funny moments. The moments in-between was unfortunately not just boring or neutral but plainly painful. This is obvious from the start when Martha Alstons (Degeneres) secretary brays on about receiving flowers from her boyfriend on valentine's day and Martha returns it in a totally non-funny way. I guess it could have been funny, but it was just painful to watch. Repeat ad nauseum with some genuinely funny moments in-between and you have this movie. In conclusion, its watchable and good for a few laughs, but if there's something more interesting available, just steer clear.
vchimpanzee
At the start, Martha is in a Mexican jail wearing a wedding dress. So right away you know this is not going to be an ordinary movie.A few months earlier, as she explains to the authorities, Martha was at her sister Annie's wedding. Her parents think Martha will be next to get married, as do about 30 other people. But Martha isn't seeing anyone.Martha works for the KSDG-TV program 'Daybreak San Diego', co-hosted by Dick and Nancy. Walter, one of her co-workers, Walter, is a possible romantic partner. But Martha meets Whitman when he selects the same song she wants on a jukebox. They fall for each other, and he meets her normal parents, and she meets his quirky mother and her maid Consuela. Whitman's family appears to have money, and he doesn't have to work but can afford all sorts of expensive gifts, even though all he does is write poetry.
After a while, it becomes clear Whitman has a fun side that Martha is too uptight to appreciate. And things go downhill from there. Not only that, but Whitman's former girlfriend Inga is mentally unbalanced and very jealous. And she has a very large but friendly sidekick named Bob. Things get so bad Martha has to hire private detective Jack Tramonte.
During the first half, I thought this was just going to be a standard romantic comedy. But the second half turned out to be anything but normal. Let's just say Martha appears to be the only sane person left, but not for long. Everyone else thinks she's crazy. And what happens would be quite unlikely in real life.I'm not crazy about Ellen DeGeneres, but let's face it. She has this irresistible perky quality about her that works very well here. Not Olsen twins perky, but pleasant. I can't stand Joan Cusack, but I think people might enjoy her demented portrayal of Inga.Most of the music was good. A lot of it came from the 40s and 50s or at least sounded like it (I know Queen recorded 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' around 1980). And Martha went to the opera. There was also Mexican-flavored music in some scenes. And a boys' choir sang 'I Want To Know What Love Is' by Foreigner, which sounds much better here than in the original version. Unfortunately, Whitman liked Foreigner, Toto, Boston and REO Speedwagon.This was a really good movie, once it really got going.
