In the latest Star Cinema romantic comedy, this time The Police's 1983 song "Every Breath You Take" for its title as if randomly picked from a karaoke song book without any relevance to the plot, we are presented with Majoy (Angelica Panganiban), a religious and superstitious family oriented virginal sweetums who has an ovarian disorder. The problem seems to speed up her biological clock, pressuring her to find a husband quick and bear a child before it's too late. But Majoy firmly believes that it's foolish to be hasty, and relies on a series of crazy and fantastical signs and wonders that will tell her if she has already found Mr. Right. (Note: her superstitious nature and conservatism is her charming factor that will make Mr. Right fall in love with her).
Enter Mr. Right: Leo Dimalanta (Piolo Pascual), a commitment-phobe womanizer who happens to be a—omigosh, this is so NEW in the Star Cinema world of corporate careers—real estate salesman, who one day crosses paths with Majoy. A strong physical attraction immediately explodes between the two, but Leo experiences all the wrong and dangerous signs when he's with Majoy. So we have our conflict: Majoy, a superstitious biological timebomb itching to procreate and settle down, is in love with the skeptic and ambitious player Leo. Will Leo realize that the conservative Missus-wannabe Majoy is really the right girl for him?
Every Breath You Take (I get goosebumps whenever my mind speaks the title) surprisingly offers an engaging and fast-paced narrative that will bring you right until the end credits (I am usually incapable of finishing a Star Cinema flick). Directed by Mae Czarina Cruz, whose previous directorial works are in television, it's no surprise that it has a strong feminine perception on romance, with scenes that are giddy-inducing to the ladies. Since I am not a follower of the Star Cinema franchise, I have no idea when they started becoming...er...more liberated in their rom-coms, injecting a lot of lengthy makeout scenes, but it looks like the Filipino dating scene has finally evolved in the Star Cinema world.
Of course, this chick flick is not without a goofy supporting cast and subplots to provide the audience more comedic experience—which includes the famed Korean "I Lilly Lilly Like You" Ryan Bang as Majoy's heartbroken suitor and a trio of idiot siblings (Smokey Manoloto, Carlos Agassi, and Joross Gamboa) out to get Leo. Offering silly, oftentimes senseless but funny humor, the subplots cleverly do not divert us from the main story, but instead are essential to the narrative structure.
Panganiban offers her sole comedic performance in this movie— a parody of Kris Aquino's manner of speech, and Pascual will make you doubt the rumors that he's gay. Both have strong onscreen presence and chemistry and are fairly absorbing to watch. They can act. And out of the supporting cast, it's Ryan Bang and Smokey Manoloto who manage to elicit LOLs, providing us with strong personality-based humor.
The stubbornly unnatural sing-songy scripted tone of voice is still present in this film but the characters are interesting enough that you get used to it. The writing is not yet as strong, fresh, and as witty as one would hope would finally happen in our local cinema, but despite spurts of weak dialogue, the screenplay succeeded in providing a solid comedic narrative. There is one scene, though, that looks like it was copied from Anne Hathaway's character in One Day, when Majoy was giving her contact numbers to Leo, which makes you wonder how many of the scenes were original or "inspired." Also, the movie has too much elements of fantasy and comedy that Leo and Majoy's love story is barely felt.
Overall, Every Breath You Take is more of a comedy than a romantic comedy. What with the bad trailer, the movie turns out to be surprisingly engaging and does not take itself too seriously. It's relaxed, fast-paced, funny, playful, and with a likeable cast ensemble. So, if you're looking for a light and silly local entertainment—on top of being a Piolo fan—this is worth your time and consideration.
3 out of 5 stars
Comments