DT EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: MAIL ORDER WIFE!

By Charley on 2005-10-05 19:11:58

There can be many signs that a relationship is destined for failure--purchasing the bride ranks with the most obvious. "Mail Order Wife" is a faux-documentary about a messed-up relationship and the filmmakers who document and, ultimately, become involved with it. The film is written and directed by Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko, who also star as the documentary filmmakers.

The premise is simple enough--some filmmakers are going to make a documentary about Adrian, a man whose, uh, lifestyle keeps him from meeting a woman the traditional way. So he buys one. From a catalog. He then proceeds to treat her like he owns her, which seems horrible but he did buy her ...

But really, the way he treats her is completely cringe-worthy. There are moments where it gets so bad that you have to laugh--because it's so horrible that it becomes funny. It gets so outlandish that the filmmakers break the cardinal rule and step in to intervene. The documentary takes on a whole new focus when one of the filmmakers invites the mail order wife to live with him.

The resulting fiasco is a gutsy and painfully honest look at messed up relationships and the messed up people who create them.

In fact, no likable characters emerge at all during the story. At one point there seems to be a hero, but nope, looks can be deceiving. By the end, there is some serious doubt whether the story even has a victim.

Regardless, "Mail Order Wife" is an enjoyable look at relationships through the incredibly skewed lens of cataloged women, the men who must purchase them and the filmmaker who gets too close to his subject.

Were this a real documentary, there's no way I'd have been laughing, which means the filmmakers have put together the perfect dark comedy--one where we can laugh at things that we probably shouldn't.

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