Mail Order Wife (2005)

Disappointment for a huge fan!

A different way of telling a story

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

As many others, I got totally fooled believing it was a real documentary, it was not until we started watching the extra features in the DVD that I saw the "Castings" and realized it wasn't real. But even so, I enjoyed it very much. The actors are great and the story goes beyond what you think it's going to happen. It would be hard to pick a favorite but I have to say that the woman that played Lichi would take the price, specially the pigs and the baby scenes!! There are always surprises in this movie and it keeps you watching for more and more. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to watch a different film, it has comedy and drama in unexpected ways!

When I first saw this on Encore the other day I thought the guy making this "documentary" was a sick dude! What type of man does this sort of thing, WOW! And the ending is just amazing! This is a great film, all the characters in it are believable (and unbelievable!) and work well all together in their big frightening tangled web that they weave!And as for this movie mocking poor little Asian girls in the US... I'd have to disagree. If you think that all Asian immigrant girls come to the States to marry someone to become a citizen then perhaps YOUR the one with the problem. After all, my very own personal Mail Order husband claims that I'm the best wife he's ever married, and plans to stay with me at the very least till his green card clears. And he's Russian, not Asian. Well he's half Japanese and Russian, but he lived in Russia. Anyways, back to the point... wait... did I have a point?PS> All that extra stuff at the end was just added so I can make the minimum post requirements!

Caught this movie as a fluke. It was on late at night as I was flipping channels, and a scene caught my interest. I taped it, and thought throughout the whole movie that it was a real documentary. I couldn't believe what I was watching. When I found out that it wasn't real, that it was listed as a "comedy", that is when I appreciated the movie that much more.The acting in it is superb, but I think that is enhanced by it being portrayed as a documentary. I was completely sucked in, to the point where I willingly rewound the movie so my fiancé can watch it with me, because I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. So caught up can one get over the absurd situations, that one thinks to themselves "this is so messed up, it has to be real!" I would recommend this movie. I really would. One can read a lot of negative reviews on this movie, but most are due to the fact that the viewer didn't like the subject matter or how the characters were portrayed. That is precisely why this is a good movie, that even though it's not real, it can still get such a visceral reaction out of someone. The film makers did exactly what they wanted to do. They sucked us all in, and for good or bad, you gotta give them a tip of the hat for that.

The rating for this film might be a little misleading. Judging by the comments it seems that many of the people who gave it a low score did so out of the sorrow they felt for the main character, and the disgust they felt for the men using her rather than out of a low opinion of the quality of the film. I actually think that the people who gave this film the lowest score are some of the people who felt the exact way the filmmakers want the audience to feel.This film reminds me of "Dogville" in a way. They both do a good job at demonstrating the immoral and vile behavior that humans can practice toward one another when it's self-serving, and the justifications they can give. (You wonder sometimes if people really believe what they put forth as their point of view, if they grow to believe it out of a need to relieve guilt or if they secretly live in the guilt, being eaten up and causing their often defensive and miserable dispositions.) Don't get me wrong, this film is no Dogville, but the filmmakers do a decent job at revealing this human flaw that is the bane of this society. It's mockumentary style allows us to connect the characters to their real life counterparts rather than tossing their awful behavior aside as just something fictional (though it was).It was a smart film. It takes thought to make up for lack of budget, and that's why you find some of the best films in the independent film world. I have friends who are filmmakers (honestly, none worked on this film). I hope more filmmakers dig a little deeper, be it in comedy, drama, horror, or whatever. These guys made a film that stays with you past the last bite of popcorn. That's an accomplishment.