Thirty-one and still single Ellen DeGeneres (as Martha Alston) works on an early morning TV talk show in San Diego. She's feeling intense pressure to get married, but has no luck. There is attractive John Livingston (as Walter) at work, but Ms. DeGeneres considers him too boyish. Suddenly, while listening to Chris Isaak's version of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on a jukebox, DeGeneres meets a man who seems to be "Mr. Right". Investor and poetry writer Bill Pullman (as Whitman Crawford) and DeGeneres have a whirlwind romance. All goes well until Mr. Pullman proves himself to be "Mr. Wrong"...This comedy is based on an outdated premise and DeGeneres is far too modern and intelligent for her role. She's witty, but stuck in an unfunny situation. More thoughtful acting is needed to overcome these hurdles...Pullman and director Nick Castle make the scenes involving the personality change interesting to watch, at least. After this, the film becomes unfocused and farcical. When the action switches to Mexico, some of it looks poorly improvised. In the "mother" roles, Joan Plowright and Polly Holliday are serviceable. Detective Dean Stockwell (as Jack Tramonte) has one good bit, when he switches allegiance. Joan Cusack (as Inga Gunther) is more annoying than funny. Her rotund sidekick, Brad Henke is better off solo. The best impressions are made by Mr. Livingston and photographer John Schwartzman.**** Mr. Wrong (2/16/96) Nick Castle ~ Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Pullman, John Livingston, Joan Cusack

Let me start by saying that the only reason I gave this movie a 2 was because Ellen is awesome.But really the movie itself deserves a 1, if not a 0. Let me address the defense that this is a "black comedy": Definition of black comedy: "Black comedy or dark comedy is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo, are treated in an unusually humorous or satirical manner while retaining their seriousness. The intent of black comedy, therefore, is often for the audience to experience both laughter and discomfort, sometimes even simultaneously."I did not at any point experience laughter during this movie, except while laughing at how terrible it is. Perhaps one could argue that the topic of stalking is the element of black comedy here, but in no way does this movie, with its "madcap" soundtrack and completely horrible script, "retain its seriousness."If you want a black comedy, then go watch "Death to Smoochy," or even better, Todd Solondz's brilliant "Happiness." Don't watch this dreck.Also, the scene where she is supposedly high on LSD (oft-named by this movie's necessarily idiotic supporters as one of it's funniest) is only funny because the filmmakers so clearly have no idea what it is like to be on hallucinogens.If you absolutely must watch this, get drunk during it so that at the end, it seems funny rather than infuriating that you just wasted two hours of your life.

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.

The script for this movie was OK, except for the last 15 minutes which were just horrible. I don't find Ellen funny, and her acting is far from diverse, she plays the same character in every project. Her and Bill Pullman were totally unbelievable as a couple. The fact that no one took her seriously when he was clearly stalking her was just asinine. She was such a whiny victim that I didn't feel sorry for her at all, fight back at least! Most of the other actors besides Ellen were pretty good, the script wasn't great, it wasn't very funny. Seems like this either needed to be a pure black comedy or a mainstream audience comedy, it tried to be both and succeeded at neither.