Lamorne Morris Deserves More Rom-Com Leads After Netflix’s ‘Desperados’

Desperados, a new Netflix romantic comedy that began streaming today, delivered something I’ve been waiting for since Winston Bishop sang his heart out to Wicked in 2012: Lamorne Morris as the romantic lead.

Directed by LP and written by Ellen Rapoport, the plot follows a 30-something single woman named Wesley (Saturday Night Live alum Nasim Pedrad) who is desperate for love. Wesley pretends to be “normal” and “chill” in order to trick a bland, financially stable handsome man named Jared (Robbie Amell) into dating her. Unfortunately, her “crazy” personality can’t be contained when Jared doesn’t text her back for a week. She sends him an alcohol-fueled, eggplant-emoji-filled angry email… only to find out he’s been in a coma in Cabo, Mexico. The solution? Fly to Cabo with her two best friends (Anna Camp and Sarah Burns) to delete it from his computer. Morris comes in as the guy Wesley went on a blind date with, Sean. He happens to be in Cabo—a coincidence explained by the line, “Yeah, it’s totally crazy for two people from LA to be in Cabo at the same time,” which is actually pretty fun—and he also happens to be the perfect guy for Wesley.

That the movie is only mediocre—and at times, offensive when it comes to the portrayal of the Mexican hotel workers—is honestly a bummer, because Morris deserves a role, and many more, like this. As difficult as it was to be a scene-stealer on the Fox sitcom New Girl—considering the talent of that ensemble cast which included Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, and Max Greenfield—Morris managed it time and time again. In fact, he did it so often, eventually, creator Elizabeth Meriweather and her writers reshaped the character to better fit his comedic talents.

When Winston is first introduced in the second episode of Season 1—after replacing Coach (Damon Kyle Wayans Jr.) from the pilot—he’s the straight man. Winston is the normal, manly one, whose job was mainly reacting to his roommates, who got most of the funny lines. But by the end of Season 2, Winston was a prank-obsessed weirdo who said things like, “Guys, you know, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Earth. We gotta leave it better than we found it,” while trapped in a ceiling vent. From there he only got weirder and weirder, until he was regularly splitting pasta with his pet cat, Furguson. He became the show’s most reliably funny character, even throughout the less-adored later seasons. And yet, while both Johnson and Greenfield went on to leading roles in movies and sitcoms of their own (Into the Spider-Verse for Johnson, and The Neighborhood for Greenfield) when New Girl ended, Morris hasn’t had his big non-Winston role yet.

Until Desperados, that is. While it’s a shame the movie isn’t better, Morris still shines. My favorite joke of the film isn’t even really a joke, just Morris saying, “Oh, you know what that is?” after Pedrad informs him that he doesn’t need to explain the concept a quinceanera to her. There’s no punchline there, but Morris’s delivery perfectly conveys that sheepish “my bad” acceptance. I want to see an entire movie centered around that comedy instinct.

You can’t help but get sucked into the romance, too, because Morris is just so charming. He gazes at Pedrad with that sort of deep-longing smolder that has been piercing souls and selling movie tickets for decades. He even gets a When Harry Met Sally-style speech at the end. Was it derivative? Sure. Did my heart melt anyhow? Absolutely. Now just imagine how powerful Morris would be as the lead in an Issa Rae romantic comedy, or a Paul Feig feature. The rest of us wouldn’t stand a chance. Make it happen, Hollywood gods.

Watch Desperados on Netflix