Everybody loves a good underdog story, but what happens when an underdog story is so delusional and out of touch with reality that you just pity the underdog throughout the whole movie? Well, you get a completely idiotic, painstakingly generic and formulaic romantic comedy like The Right Kind of Wrong.
The film stars Ryan Kwanten of True Blood fame as a dishwasher named Leo who dreams big. And not just really big, we’re talking so big that the premise of the film kills it before it can even get off the ground. Basically, Leo is your average Joe with imperfections just like the rest of us. These faults bother his wife so much that she decides to start a blog titled “Why You Suck” to share with the entire world. It’s definitely a petty and cruel thing to do, but it also goes viral, leading to book deals and more. Eventually, she leaves Leo and he falls into a state of depression.
After some flashy opening credits – that are probably the best thing about the movie – depicting the blog’s rise to mainstream attention, we bear witness to Leo 18 months later sitting around the house and moping like a hermit. He soon becomes aware of a nearby wedding, attends it, and falls in love with the bride, Collette.
Why you ask?
Well, Leo witnesses her punt a football across a couple houses, which for some inexplicable reason causes him to fall head over heels for her. His character isn’t a fan of football or anything, but that’s what does it for him. Regardless, his new-found puppy love rejuvenates his enthusiasm for the world around him and he embarks on a quest to win over a woman that’s already married.
Here is where the movie really falls apart though; to you, me, and everyone you probably know; this all sounds incredibly creepy and stalker-ish. If we had friends trying to court newly married women, we would probably knock some sense into them ASAP and explain just how ridiculous they sound. Leo’s friends don’t do that though; they egg him on and get involved in the stalking themselves. It’s hard to root for a protagonist when the thing you want most to happen to him is getting reported to the police for being creepy.
The other glaring issue is that the movie never really does anything with these characters that makes you want to see them end up together in the end. Sure, Collette’s husband is a bit of a jerk, but it’s hard to blame him when he’s only trying to rid his relationship of an obsessive stalker. The movie tries to tell us that Leo and Collette are right for each other, but never bothers to explain why.
There’s also a very weird sub-plot about a Ghost Bear. I don’t know about you, but if I saw a white bear running around my neighborhood, I wouldn’t take it as an invitation that love is in the air. It just furthers the point that there is a wide disconnect from reality in this film that really doesn’t jive with the rest of the story elements.
If there is any satisfaction or amusement to be found in The Right Kind of Wrong, it is with Leo’s friends. They may be part of the problem regarding the absurd plot, but at least they have some personality and occasionally funny lines; most notably an Indian chef that tells Leo things like “To win my wife, I challenged her boyfriend to a duel,” Leo looks on bewildered, asking if it really happened as his friend retorts “No, I just like making up s*** about India because you’ll believe anything.”
Admittedly, when Leo is around some of his friends the movie can be tolerable, but that’s about it. Everything here is just too stale, too predictable, and has been done to death 1000 times. The only difference is that The Right Kind of Wrong finds a way to take this all too familiar tale and make it stupid beyond words.
