18. What have we done to deserve this?
This is all Vivien’s fault. Let’s watch the Kim Chiu-Gerald Anderson movie, he says. Candy-colored poster with eye candy. Fine, we go to Glorietta for the 5.50 pm screening and it’s Full. All seats taken, people sitting on the aisles, I haven’t seen people sitting on the aisles at a movie screening since Titanic.
So Kim and Gerald play best friends since high school, Kim is a complete doormat for love, and Gerald has a few scenes in which he ruminates on life while standing in the shower. Yes, because the shower is the perfect place to ponder the big questions of life, particularly if you have those abs. Like the typical Star Cinema product no one has any real problems; what they really need is to have a strong cup of coffee and get over themselves. There are the stock characters: the friends offering analysis and advice on the relationship (except for Jon Avila who plays a flower vase), the overbearing parent, the ex. People keep saying, “This must be my karma for leaving you” or whatever, and Vivien and I had to say, “If our karma is to watch this movie, what exactly have we done?”
But when the movie ended there was applause anyway, because all the audience really wants is to see Kim being pretty and Gerald being handsome. Nothing they don’t already see on TV. For free. I expect it will be a huge hit.
The problem, I think, is that many studio-based writers have not seen enough of life first-hand; their experience is limited to “Does he love me?” and “My dad is always on my case”. Everything they know is of human behavior, they get from watching telenovelas. Telenovelas are not life, any more than television is cinema. For instance, a young woman who catches her boyfriend grappling with his ex is not going to make a long, tearful speech about how stupid she is; she will be too consumed by rage to say much more than !@#$%. You can’t write people unless you know people.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 28th, 2010 at 04:32
AHAHAHA, tinuod? Standing Room yan?
Nakow, malamang eh iba ang charms ng mga love teams na galing ng Big Brother House. Pero ang nakakaloka eh Standing Room yan?
Anyway, vote for MELASON pls.
HAHAA!
January 28th, 2010 at 10:18
Nice review.. hehehehe… Our movie industry is going nowhere if we are to entrust scripts to the same old fags and oldtimers who just copy foreign scripts.
January 28th, 2010 at 15:12
It’s a good thing we skipped this movie for “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs”. It’s like a choice between a rotten apple and a succulent orange. I don’t want to generalize but let’s face it, 80-90% of the time, the big local film studios produce rubbish movies.
January 28th, 2010 at 22:48
Ever notice that in Pinoy teleseryes,the rich parents of the bida always curse in English,even if they do speak Tagalog in normal conversation? As in,”hindi mo maaring pakasalan si ___________dahil isa lamang syang muchacha at ikaw ay ang aking tagapagmana ng Hacienda, _________you!” In Mexican telenovelas dubbed in Tagalog, observe how often they use the word “Pakiusap”, as in, “Pakiusap,mama,hwag mong hamakin si _________ dahil iniibig ko sya,pakiusap!” I also notice that the rich are almost always played by beautiful people. In real life we meet people who look like your average market vendor,but they live in condos and drive the newest SUVs.
January 29th, 2010 at 01:51
I don’t think we can place the blame solely on the studio writers. They’ve been tasked to churn out material that caters to people who will applaud at anything. A growing demographic, I’m sorry to say.
This has all turned into a catch-22.
January 29th, 2010 at 04:04
I had the same thought watching “Kung tayo ay Magkakalayo”. Kris Aquino is Kim Chui’s mother. They have a hateful relationship just because. BUT, Kris is a teacher. At pre-school! I just can not believe someone like that could have a terrible relationship with her own child as potrayed on this series. You do not really have to be mother, or a pre-schoo teacher, to realize how unbelieveable the relationship of these characters is. Have you been too happy this week? You want to balance it out? wanna annoy yourself? watch it!
January 29th, 2010 at 10:50
Hmm. Ang naalala ko lang na pelikulang pinanood kung SRO ay yung ‘Bagets’. Heheh.
January 30th, 2010 at 13:54
The funniest movie I have seen so far. My barkada forced me to watch this with them by putting our friendship at stake. We laughed so hard that nobody bothered to whack us with anything solid. When Kim said the line “Shinota mo ako”, I almost choked on popcorn hulls.