Roman Reigns looks to be interested in following in his cousin Dwayne’s footsteps, and transitioning from the ring to the screen. On Wednesday (May 13) we got a look at his latest move in that direction, when the newest comedy from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company for Netflix - The Wrong Missy - dropped on the streamer.
Small parts in movies from SNL veterans is a standard play for wrestlers going Hollywood (The Rock in The Other Guys, John Cena in Trainwreck), so I was curious to see what Roman got up to in the David Spade/Lauren Lapkus-starring raunch/rom-com.
It turns out, I didn’t even have to! The Big Dog posted his entire performance in two Instagrams!
As you can see, Reigns (or I guess I should say Joe Anoaʻi) is “angry guy at the bar”. Lupkus’ titular Missy pranks her blind date, claiming that Big Romey is bothering her and asking he step in to save her. Spade’s character Tim persists despite the reveal he’s coming the aid of a pregnant woman who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and hilarity ensues.
Spade also continues on with the date, which leads to Lupkus screaming at Reigns across the restaurant. That means we get to hear Roman say “assholes”, and not much else.
I didn’t know that was the extent of Reigns’ screentime, however. So I persisted.
Tim goes on to meet the woman of his dreams, whose name is Melissa, which is also Missy’s full name. He gets picked to go to an important corporate retreat in Hawaii, texts the wrong Missy (get it?!?!), and we’re off.
It’s... not good. But it’s also not horrible. If you’re seen other Sandler-produced romantic comedies from the past two decades, you know what you’re getting into. The twist to this one is that Lupkus is playing the role Sandler often does (and that Spade most famously played opposite with the late, great Chris Farley). She gets the big grossout jokes and does the over-the-top physical comedy bits. Eventually, we learn she’s a good person who is just terribly immature. Spade is exasperated by being stuck with her, until he eventually learns he needs to loosen up - just like he did in Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. But this time there’s kissing. Happily ever after.
Put it toward the back half of the Sand-man’s oeuvre, for sure. But I laughed. And Reigns is perfect in his limited minutes. Not sure we get much of an indication of how he’d do with a bigger role, but I’d give him a shot in one based on how he handled this.
The Wrong Missy is on Netflix.