Disappointed by her dull Valentine's Day blind date, she goes home to sulk in front of the TV, where, inundated by romantic imagery, she is prompted to get out of the house.
It is here that Whitman is revealed to be a crafty, devious, narcissistic sociopath who hides behind a charming nice-guy persona that fools literally everyone he comes into contact with.
Whitman also refuses to believe he has been dumped and he begins stalking Martha and trying to woo her back in increasingly ridiculous ways.
Martha soon becomes frustrated and desperate after the manipulative Whitman tells her whole smitten and oblivious family that they are engaged to be married.
Whitman goes as far as to make Martha lose her job, and then hits her with his pickup truck, drugs her and abducts her, taking her to Mexico to marry her there by hiring two young Mexican children to hold her captive as they travel on the road to their destination.
Once in Mexico, Martha attempts to escape and manages to place a phone call to San Diego to her former office to the only person that has not fallen under Whitman's influence: her co-worker Walter whom she manages to hurriedly explain that Whitman has abducted her and to travel to Mexico and rescue her.
Title cards over the closing scene explain that Martha and Walter eventually turned north and returned to the USA where they became romantically involved and currently live under assumed names, Inga and Bob got married and opened a pet store in Albuquerque, and Whitman continues his search for love.
The critical consensus reads: "A mean-spirited joke without a punchline, Mr. Wrong is so painfully unfunny that Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Pullman's lack of chemistry feels like a total drag despite being the point.
[6] Mick LaSalle, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, said that after a good start, the film became "dreadful" and "inherently unfunny" starting midway through from the point when after Martha breaks up with Whitman after seeing his true evil persona, in which he then begins stalking her and literally destroys her personal and professional life while continuing to fool everyone around her with his charismatic, good-guy facade.
[7] Rita Kempley, writing for The Washington Post, assessed the film a "sour, listless debunking of romantic comedies, ... [with] fewer laughs than Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and laments that "Ellen DeGeneres, a comedian and sitcom star in her film debut, [who] is ostensibly the protagonist here" does not control the action, but her character "merely reacts to [Whitman's] twists and turn-ons".
[9] Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert gave the film two resounding thumbs down, saying that DeGeneres was a good actress and appealing and the pivot to Pullman's character was a total disaster that made the movie impossible to enjoy.
Mick Martin and Marsha Porter of the DVD & Video Guide gave it three stars, and while acknowledging that "the script is predictable and Nick Castle's direction is only adequate", they found that "DeGeneres's personal charm and a few inspired gags make it all worthwhile".