Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

ComedyFan2010 The movie ended up being more interesting than I thought. I kind of felt bad for all the men and hoping that they will make it. None of them seems to be a bad person but sure has trouble finding someone closer at home. The documentary is really good at following them, their stories and giving us their thoughts.It is also nice how it shows all the different outcomes that might happen. One simply doesn't meet anyone there. Three get scammed. When it comes to the guy who seemed to love a picture and put too much hope into it I was kind of expecting it to happen. But the other two I felt pretty bad. Especially for the Australian who got married and then she stopped talking to him. Say what you want about him and how he missed clues (we can't really know it as we didn't see their whole communication, just a few minutes), but what kind of a person gets married "to keep the options open"??? Awful woman. And I must say I actually have big respect for him that he tried and that he also confronted her at the end. I hope he found someone in Australia. Just like the other ones who weren't lucky.It shows us two good outcomes. And those are actually pretty happy. One can see that the women are being genuine. Everything can happen after as well, not all marriages succeed but I hope they succeed here.So it was a good documentary showing us all sides of this dating business. As it was said the company has no control over the outcome. Just think about local online dating. How many people you meet and get disappointed. How many do you realize are wrong for you after several dates. Doing it internationally makes it even harder since one has less time to see each other in real life. So of course one can expect that it won't all work out.

anatisfairywheel One reviewer stated that the entire purpose of this film was to expose what a scam the entire "mail order bride" industry was. I completely disagree. I think the point of the movie was to explore and show the different experiences and motives of the men and women using these services, which it did quite well. Some of these men seemed to have unrealistic expectations, looking for a super model type wife even though they themselves were overweight and older, but a couple seemed very genuine and sincere in their search to connect with someone. It was disheartening to see one man who was outright scammed and misled by a woman, and two more who were likely scammed. Two of the couples do get married, and the bond between one of them is quite evident and they seemed very genuine and in love--it was cute to watch them. The nicest thing about this film is that it shows the honest perspectives of both sides and even some of the parents, and it's very nice that it follows the story for quite some time (at least a year, if not more--I didn't keep track) to show how some of the relationships didn't work out while others seemed to get better.

Abigale Nettel What do you get when you mix a group of men with incredibly narrow perspectives about male/female relationships and women from a country filled with poverty and hardship? Mostly disenchantment, depression and bruised egos - but still a very interesting television snack.Marriages happened but how can real bonding grow from such toxic seed? The most important factor to the men in this search was aesthetic, sexual appeal and that proved to be detrimental to most all of them. The men who felt scammed only found themselves in that position because they allowed superficiality to be their guide. For some reason, for most of these men, they believe that if the woman is attractive that everything else can be overcome. Sexual attraction does not an entire relationship make.This is just the tip of the ice berg though. Each one of these guys had his own "issues" that made it impossible for them to even select someone compatible for a real marriage. Eric was obviously doing everything he could to prove himself "manly" but he just came across as ignorant and insecure instead. Michael was just a pouty, delusional man-child who refused to take hints or even hear the truth if it didn't fit what he wanted to believe. Ron was in complete denial about aging and was looking for someone to live with him in that impossibility. Bobby kept trying to win a woman who fit the media's beauty ideal (Angelina Jolie) probably because he thought she would be the prize that would be evidence of his elusive self-worth. Poor Travis seemed ready but was just looking for love in all the wrong places - places that would probably require him to literally relocate, reinvent and reestablish himself in order to find a relationship of any kind.The only man in this group who seemed serious and mature enough for a real relationship was Robert.In the end, this documentary was less of a window into the Russian Bride phenomena and more a testament to sexism, outdated gender roles and delusional approaches to relationships.

YouAreNotTheGuy First off, I have to applaud the bravery of the western men and eastern European women who agreed to be filmed during their search for a partner. It can't have been easy, knowing how they risked appearing to an audience. That aside, I think the stars of this documentary would be the first to agree that something has gone wrong in their lives that they have resorted to such unorthodox measures. Understanding the desperation and deep loneliness of the men is key to understanding how they can be deceived by both themselves and the morally bankrupt businesses and individuals that exploit that loneliness for their own aims. The documentary-makers sympathetically but astutely expose these issues, through uncompromising filming and pertinent interview questions. The question the interviewers keep returning to - what is love - is a thought-provoking one that perhaps has no satisfactory answer. I'd suggest that the men asked in the documentary revealed the extent of their disconnection from reality and self-deception with their naive and romantic answers. While viewers may not be able to say what love is by the end of the documentary, I think they'll be more confident in saying what love isn't.