Mail Order Wife Movie Review 2004

Making a documentary parody really only works if the subject is funny and the characters are caricatures (see "This is Spinal Tap"). Abusive men who order wives through the mail doesn't quite have the same wink-wink-nudge-nudge appeal. Director Andrew Gurland, playing himself, is a documentary filmmaker getting wrapped up in a mail-order marriage gone bad, who then offers the overseas newlywed a place to stay (i.e. his bed) and helps her find a job. The camera bobs and weaves, trying to focus the entire time. It's almost like it doesn't want to watch, either. An unlikable cast of fictional characters is trumped by a cameo from unlikable non-fictional caricature Jose Canseco.

Distribution

Visual Entertainment, 10 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608

Available on DVD
Running time 92 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Mockumentary, Marriage, Marriages of Convenience, New York, New York, Newlyweds, Mail-Order Brides

Screenplay

Huck Botko, Andrew Gurland

Cast

Andrew Gurland, Eugenia Yuan, Adrian Martinez, Deborah Teng

Cinematography

Luke Geissbuhler

Director

Huck Botko, Andrew Gurland

Other

Chen Harpaz, Mark Wike, Kevin Napier, Jennifer Galvelis, Jon Nissenbaum

Producer

Avram Ludwig, Kendall Morgan, Andrew Weiner, Nina Yang, Hypnotic, Dada Films