THAN ANGEL
MANILA, MARCH 11, 2012 (MALAYA) By MARIO E. BAUTISTA - GONE are
the days when local film heroines are pristine pure and lily white. Times have
really changed and we don't believe it's for the better.
Now, we have women like Anne Curtis in "No Other Woman" and Lovi
Poe and Carla Abellana in "My Neighbor's Wife" who don't mind being mistresses
or being unfaithful. In "Unofficially Yours," Angel Locsin is an easy lay who
hops into bed with John Lloyd Cruz on their first meeting in Boracay and then
goes on sharing his bed in Manila without any formal commitment.
We don't mind if we see women like this in Hollywood films like "Friends with
Benefits" and "No Strings Attached." We always say they have a different kind of
culture. Call us a prude but we still feel uncomfortable when we see such women
in local films. We've been an active volunteer in a Christian family ministry
for two decades now and we've confirmed that couples who indulge in premarital
sex are the ones most suspicious about their partners indulging in extra-marital
sex. They often have big trust and fidelity issues.
John Lloyd Cruz is Mackie, a dentist who has a one-night stand on the beach
with Angel as Ces. He wakes up the next morning and she's gone. He decides to
change jobs and applies as a writer at Manila Bulletin. It so happened that Ces
is a senior writer there and she's assigned to train him. They go on with their
being FB (fuck buddies). Mackie quickie falls for her. He wants a more serious
relationship but she resists it. That's the basic conflict in the story. But you
know that eventually, she'll also fall in love with him and they'll have a happy
ending. How they get there is what the movie is all about it. And it's not
really much.
The movie starts rather well but our interest quickly wanes as the journey of
the two lovers is not credibly developed. In the end, when Ces finally reveals
why she's scared to love anew, we're only half interested. Angel is made to
deliver a long kilometric aria to explain her side and it's not very well put
together. It turns out her past boyfriend suddenly dumped her in Cebu after she
was incapacitated by an accident. A little later, John Lloyd is interviewing the
guilty guy (Patrick Garcia in a thankless cameo role) and he pounces on him.
(For which he was suspended for only one week. He deserves to be sacked no
less!)
The incidents are truly too contrived, just to forward the story. In another
scene, they're talking about Mackie's ex and guess who'd walk in by chance, the
ex they're talking about, played by DJ Andi Manzano. It's also not credible that
just because a dentist wants to be a writer, he'd be hired that easily and that
quickly by a major newspaper without even taking the necessary tests or being
interviewed. Most applicants go through a long process before they're employed,
you know.
Angel as Ces tries her best to project a very liberated character. In their
love scenes, she's even the more aggressive partner. But the bed scenes are
really quite tame despite earlier hype that this is her and John Lloyd's most
daring film so far. This is understandable since they can't afford to be really
sexy. Otherwise, SM Cinemas would ban them from being shown in their theaters
and they'll lose a big chunk of their audience.
It's actually John Lloyd who shows more skin in this movie compared to his
past ones. And we should commend him for being a good sport since we know he's
not buff like other lead actors today who regularly go to the gym to get a more
muscular physique with abs. In the movie, John Lloyd is actually the slimmest
member of their family compared to his dad (Edgar Mortiz) and sisters (played by
the three daughters of William Martinez who are all obese).
If anyone would dare laugh at his shapeless torso, no one could question John
Lloyd's capabilities as an actor. He not only has a very appealing, endearing
screen presence but he is so good even in small scenes where all he does is make
"pakwela." In the end, the movie becomes a sing-along with the two leads using
their own faltering voices in crooning what could very well be the film's OPM
theme song. We don't know how this will sit with most viewers. Maybe John Lloyd
fans will find it cute, but Lea Salonga will have another official reason to
squawk.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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