LA Times: Movie Review |
| March 2005 'Mail Order Wife,' 'Dot the I' and 'Off the Map' |
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A wickedly funny satire about a lonely slob from Queens, the Burmese bride he orders from a catalog and the documentary filmmaker who chronicles the debacle before luring her away, "Mail Order Wife" sends up everyone in its circuitous path — self-deluded lonely slobs, self-deluded documentary filmmakers, pretentious chef-worshipping dinner guests, salty old Florida swingers, gold-digging Geisha-girls and that specialized subset of muddle-headed manhood that confuses sexual exploitation with humanitarian concern. Adrian (Adrian Martinez) is an Eldorado-driving doorman who agrees to let Andrew, a documentary filmmaker, chronicle his marriage to the beautiful Lichi (Eugenia Yuan) in exchange for the cost of the setup. Adrian has selected Lichi from the bride sampler of an "international matchmaking agency" catering to silver-haired gents in yachting caps and the comely but poverty-stricken villagers who love them. Within minutes of bringing her home, though, he is instructing his new bride on the finer points of toilet-scrubbing and amateur porn video production. Things get ugly. And when Andrew comes to the rescue, things get even uglier. (Andrew is played Andrew Gurland, who co-directed "Mail Order Wife" along with Huck Botko). If the nuggets of P.C. piety and social pretension skewered by "Mail Order Wife" were any meatier, the movie would be a shish kebab. There's something here to offend every sense of cultural identification and domestic sensibility, and if that doesn't sound wildly appealing, best to check out "Hostage." "Mail Order Wife," rated R for language and some disturbing sexual material. Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes. Exclusively at the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500. |