Mail Order Bride

Dismally unfunny cross-cultural farce posits stupidity as the universal language.

Ultimately unable to overcome both its amateurish qualities and its overly familiar elements.

This amateurish comedy features some amazing sequences shot in Moscow. But everything else about it is second rate.

The hapless goodfella-in-training is as unsuccessful at fulfilling his uncle's wishes as the star and co-director, Robert Capelli Jr., is at delivering punchlines.

As if the witless cultural stereotypes weren't bad enough, misogyny is rampant -- bare-breasted women abound, yet the protagonist remains fully clothed while having a bullet removed from his butt.

Might have generated a laugh or two had it not forced the actors into uncomfortable extremes of caricature.