The title "The Bride He Bought Online" is somewhat misleading about the character of the computer programmer named John (Big Johnnie), who believes that he has met a woman online and assists her financially in traveling to America. It was clear that he was desperately searching for human contact more than a mail-order bride.
Unknown to Johnnie, three young women (Avery, Kaylie, and Mandy) have played an especially nasty trick on him and record for their blog a distraught Johnnie at LAX when Diwata does not arrive on her scheduled flight. Johnnie then retaliates by kidnapping the three young women and attempting to sell them to a group of human traffickers.
The most interesting character in the film has only a few brief scenes. She is Wanda, the neighbor of Johnnie, who works in the oldest profession in the world. The happy hooker suspects that Johnnie is up to no good, and she heroically assists two of the women, Avery and Mandy, in escaping confinement in a warehouse. The quick-thinking Detective Schumacher discovers Johnnie's identity and works to recuse the two young women. But what about Kaylie?
Kaylie Mack was always Avery's bestie. But there was a dark side to Kaylie as the instigator in the prank played on Johnnie. Even when in captivity the sassy Kaylie would taunt Johnnie with snapped, demeaning remarks. It was a surprising choice of the filmmakers to find no redemption for Kaylie, whose last known whereabouts were in the presence of the two nefarious creatures who have seemingly changed her life forever.
The filmmakers walked a tightrope in finding some sympathetic qualities for the crazed dork Johnnie. They also showed no pity in portraying Kaylie Mack as a character shorn of the values of human compassion. But the most memorable moments and lively dialogue belongs to the Happy Hooker, who appears to have discovered the kind of balanced, ironic view of life absent in the other lost souls searching for a happiness that will always elude them.
Unknown to Johnnie, three young women (Avery, Kaylie, and Mandy) have played an especially nasty trick on him and record for their blog a distraught Johnnie at LAX when Diwata does not arrive on her scheduled flight. Johnnie then retaliates by kidnapping the three young women and attempting to sell them to a group of human traffickers.
The most interesting character in the film has only a few brief scenes. She is Wanda, the neighbor of Johnnie, who works in the oldest profession in the world. The happy hooker suspects that Johnnie is up to no good, and she heroically assists two of the women, Avery and Mandy, in escaping confinement in a warehouse. The quick-thinking Detective Schumacher discovers Johnnie's identity and works to recuse the two young women. But what about Kaylie?
Kaylie Mack was always Avery's bestie. But there was a dark side to Kaylie as the instigator in the prank played on Johnnie. Even when in captivity the sassy Kaylie would taunt Johnnie with snapped, demeaning remarks. It was a surprising choice of the filmmakers to find no redemption for Kaylie, whose last known whereabouts were in the presence of the two nefarious creatures who have seemingly changed her life forever.
The filmmakers walked a tightrope in finding some sympathetic qualities for the crazed dork Johnnie. They also showed no pity in portraying Kaylie Mack as a character shorn of the values of human compassion. But the most memorable moments and lively dialogue belongs to the Happy Hooker, who appears to have discovered the kind of balanced, ironic view of life absent in the other lost souls searching for a happiness that will always elude them.