In For Worse, a newly divorced mom attends a wedding with a much younger date. What starts as a fun fling and wild weekend reclaiming her youth leads to something more when she unexpectedly sparks a connection with a fellow divorcee.
Directed, written, produced by, and starring Amy Landecker, the movie also features Nico Hiraga, Missi Pyle, Gaby Hoffmann, Kiersey Clemons, Ken Marino, Paul Adelstein, Angelique Cabral, Simon Helberg, Claudia Sulewski, Liv Hewson, and Bradley Whitford.
Last week, we sat down with Missi to discuss her role as Julie. Many of you will likely know the actress best for her roles in movies like Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, The Artist, and, of course, Galaxy Quest, a beloved cult classic.
Rumours about a sequel to the latter have persisted for years. A movie seemed to be taking shape for a while, and last we heard, Georgia Pritchett and Simon Pegg were developing a TV series for Paramount+. In the 1999 sci-fi movie, Missi plays Laliari, a Thermian and love interest for Tony Shalhoub's Fred Kwan.
We asked the For Worse star about possibly reprising the role, and she told us, "I would go back anytime. I mean, I don't know. You never know. Like, I heard there was a Dodgeball remake being made. All I know is this business...I've been doing it for 30 years. There are so many ups and downs, and this is going to happen, [and then] no."
"I did a movie with Parker and Matt Stone and Kendrick Lamar, and that was supposed to come out at the beginning of last year and then the middle of last year, and you just never know," Missi continued. "So you have to just kind of say thank you. I'm happy where I am."
"I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. I'd love to be a part of it again. If not, just great, good luck to everyone. But happy, thank you, more please, I think is kind of how I feel about it," she concluded.
You can hear more from the actress on her role in For Worse in the player below.
I often think that this kind of best friend role is one of the funniest, most rewarding you can have in a movie like this; they always get the best lines. Was that a big appeal to you when it came to this project?
Yeah, I mean, Amy called me a couple of nights before they started shooting because she lost one of her actual best friends, Mary McCormack, who was supposed to play the part and had to bow out for personal reasons. We had just worked together, Amy and I, and so I was like, yeah, of course I'll do anything with you. I loved her, and we had created this chemistry. We were playing really good friends in the other job that we did. So I was so excited to do it even before I read it. I said yes. And then it was just funny, and she's so easy to work with. She's really talented, and she's the writer, director, and starring in it. But you kind of wouldn't know that it was her first one and that there was a tiny budget and so much pressure because she just was like this is great, I'm having the most fun. We had an incredible crew, incredible production staff. So yeah, and then she ended up being funny, and I got to do a lot of whatever I wanted to do, and she would just laugh and be like happy thank you, more please. The best friend gets to be raunchy so you get to be raunchy and take it as far as you can.
Julia is a great character and, obviously, you and Amy spend a lot of time together on screen. She's your director as well as your co-star. Does that change the dynamic at all, and how much freedom do you have with a character like Julia when you're bouncing back and forth with Amy on set?
You know, her being the director obviously changes the dynamic to a degree because she's not a fellow actor; there's a director. But when she's the director, and she's like I love what you're doing and this is so fun and let's—I loved when you said that and that and let's just do that again or do that—she was so you kind of know that you're with the creative person too, the one who's created the whole thing. So you feel even more like it is even more magic and fun because you're already—you don't have to wait until the take is over to wait for notes. Normally, you'll sit there, and you'll do it, and then they'll talk, and they'll okay we loved that. She's right there, and she's already laughing. So it's really fun.
As you said, Julie's quite a raunchy character. She comes in, she gets some great lines and some really great moments. But were there any scenes or any particular lines like that that you struggled to get through, particularly with that back and forth with Amy?
No, there were no tough days and a lot of it—if there was something that didn't work, she was like oh just do whatever you want. So much of it was that there was a loose script, but then we came up with just a bunch of different things. And then Bradley Whitford was behind watching the whole time. And so he would come in a couple of times with some lines that were really funny. And so we got to—and then of course the scene with Gabby Hoffman and me, that was just—she's just asking me questions completely off the script. So we're just creating this thing, and then you're always amazed when it ends up in the movie because there's a lot of just very silly stuff. And you're just hoping that the gods of the improv or the magic are there and you're there and you can receive it, you can get it, and you can just say it and let it come right out.
You've done some great comedies before—almost too many to mention—but when it comes to improvising, do you like that? Does it give you a little more freedom to find how to be funny on screen, or is it a balance with the script as well?
I would say it runs the whole gamut because sometimes you can—I did a movie called Haunted House 2 or something and then we would just improvise and they would never yell cut and so then at that point you're sweating and you're like this isn't really funny anymore. But it depends on who you're doing it with and who is guiding you through it. But I love it. I've done a couple of pilots where it was all improv. So you just have an idea of the script, and someone will come in and throw you a few lines to say, but you have a beginning, middle, and an end. And that to me is really fun. And when people are open to it, it's great. But sometimes you don't have people who are as open or are just more stressed or scared. And Amy was just ridiculously open and present and happy to be there. So that made it easy.
I know it's been almost a year since it first premiered, but the movie is finally getting released. Critics have loved it, and it's had some great reviews so far. How excited are you now for audiences to finally see this thing and just to get it out in the world?
I am so excited about this movie. When I saw it first at South by Southwest, you just never know, especially with a movie with a budget like this and the time constraints—are they going to be able to get everything? Is there a catastrophe somewhere? Does something have to get cut? It is so well done. It is so funny, and I watched it with a big group of people who laughed the whole time, and I'm laughing, I'm crying from laughing. I just couldn't believe it. I kept touching Amy and Bradley, who were sitting in front of me, being like—and then you have that moment between them where she's just outside the hospital waiting room or whatever, and she's just—it's just so magical and beautiful. Like it's so rewarding. You get all that silliness and all the ridiculous things that happen, and then all of a sudden it ties up in such a beautiful way.
It really feels like romantic comedies are making a bit of a resurgence as well. They kind of vanished for a long time, which I think was a real shame, but it must be great to be part of one of those and almost this resurgence of the genre as well.
Yeah, it's fun to be like—it's also fun to be a part of a coming of middle age story for a woman. Men always get a second chance, but often women don't. So it's really fun to watch.
This is an independent film with a phenomenal cast, even though it is a smaller project. How important is it to you to support a project like this one and to get it out in the world, as you said, it finally is now after South by Southwest?
I think that this particular movie—the budget is not large enough to bombard the world with ads and billboards, but it is so satisfying. It is so good, like it is so worth seeing, and it's very important to see women being the lead in a romantic comedy over the age of 30. So it's just really cool, and I really hope that everyone will just immediately see it because it is so delightful and so funny. It's just so much joy in it and silliness.
For Worse is now playing in New York and Los Angeles, with an expanded release set for March 6.