A few years back, there was a teen romance film called "Vince & Kath & James," starring Joshua Garcia and Julia Barreto and Ronnie Alonte, directed by Theodore Borobol. That film basically followed the classic story of "Cyrano de Bergerac," but updated it for the modern times, with sweet text messages replacing the romantic poetry of the original. This was the biggest hit of the memorable Metro Manila Filmfest of 2016, the year when the entries were chosen were chosen more for cinematic merit than box office appeal.
It was not really a surprise back then that it was Vince and Kath who ended up with each other in that first film, as it was the first film teamup of the very popular JoshLia love team. This new sequel, also directed by Borobol, interestingly decided to follow the story of the third angle in the love triangle, James. James was the jock varsity basketball player, who asked his nerdy cousin Vince to court campus beauty Kath. In the beginning, there was even a statement saying that this film was dedicated to the ones left unchosen, like James.
James (Ronnie Alonte) had not been himself since being left behind by Vince and Kath who were now based in the US. After being involved in a basketball game brawl, James was sent to the province to cool off at the Ows Hostel, a beach resort owned by his grandmother Lola O (Odette Khan). There, he was left under the supervision of assistant manager Pat (Loisa Andalio). She was a perky independent young woman who still could not move from her separation from ex-boyfriend, the rich mayor's son, Dave (Donnie Pangilinan), who was now coming back and asking for her forgiveness.
This film did not hide the major inspiration it got from a 1998 Star Cinema film "Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita" starring Claudine Barretto, Rico Yan and Diether Ocampo. Like Mela (Claudine) in the original movie, Pat also had a bad girl reputation. The romantic conflict was between the bad boy Ryan (Diether) with whom James identified, and rich kid Miguel (Rico) with whom Dave identified. A clip of the old film was shown during a movie night at the resort, while the "real-life" love triangle discussed the "on-screen" love triangle.
The low-brow comedy was mostly provided by Pat's floridly gay cousin Sasha (Awra Briguela) with his atrocious "trying-hard" English. Rather uncomfortable was the repeated referral to Pat's side-line business of growing and selling snow cabbage or "pechay," with an obvious sly double-entendre meaning the way the word was pronounced here. The character of senile Lolo Ining (Bodjie Pascua) and his relationship with Pat was reminiscent of the McDonald's classic 2001 "Karen" commercial.
This sequel still followed some of the style from the first film, with its onscreen text messaging and typing entries into the Da Vinci Quotes (a blog where each post only had six pithy words). However, without the star power of Josh-Lia in there, this one, with its less charismatic cast and awkward story conflicts, does not fly as high as the first film. The lead actors do their best, particularly Andalio, but the quality of the material was tough to elevate.
The resolution of the love triangle here was really not much of a guessing game for the audience. The writer tried to throw in an unnecessary wrench to complicate things late in the game, but it was forced and unreasonable. Thankfully, there was a much needed spark by way of a charming surprise last-minute cameo appearance, and you can clearly see what a difference it made. 4/10.
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