January 3, 2020
Ever since his film debut, rapper Andrew E had usually been involved in ensemble comedies with other comedians, surrounded with scads of sexy girls all mad about them. His first movie was "Humanap Ka ng Pangit" (Ben Feleo, 1990) based on his hit rap song. Andrew E starred with Jimmy Santos and Keempee de Leon as his brothers, with Nanette Medved, Carmi Martin and Gelli de Belen as the ladies crazy in love with them.
His latest film was the sex comedy "Sanggano, Sanggago't Sanggwapo" (Al Tantay, 2019) with Janno Gibbs and Dennis Padilla, co-starring with Louise de los Reyes, Cindy Miranda, Sanya Lopez and other pretty young ladies running after them. This film must have struck some kind of financial success such that Viva Films decided to green-light and bankroll a spin-off starring the same three comedians and even more sexy girls.
Dentist John (Andrew E), photographer Justin (Janno Gibbs), stand-up comic Bruno (Dennis Padilla) and tattoo artist Drake (an out-of-place Jerald Napoles) were a group of close friends who shared the unmitigated obsession for pursuing sexy young ladies even when they were already very much married. Despite their age or the way they looked, these four men were always inexplicably irresistible to the opposite sex.
Their respective wives Ariana (Ana Roces), Selena (Angelu de Leon), Miley (Maui Taylor) and Katy (Marisa Sanchez) were always very suspicious about their husbands' extra-curricular activities. But even if they were already caught red-handed, the guys could always seem to get away with their indiscretions using their expertise in coming up with brazen alibis which the wives always fell for, no matter how lame, bizarre or crazy these excuses were.
Aside from the four leading men, there were a couple more supporting characters who similarly espoused the same brand of machismo. Smooth-talking convenience store owner Bernardo (Leo Martinez) was their master in the art of being dirty old men. Over-compensating criminal millionaire Boss Joko (Gary Lim) was the jealous boyfriend of model Natasha (Nathalie Hart). This very retro "Chicks to Chicks" schtick where the actors have fun "chancing" on their sexy female co-actors clearly still lives on up to now.
It was very obvious how director Al Tantay was trying so hard to work around the apparent absence of Ana Roces in several scenes. A body double was used with her face turned away from the camera, then shifting to Roces in a cutaway close-up. This was first seen when the wives were leaving for a retreat, then at the song and dance scene at the beach. During the climactic parlor games scene, Roces'a Ariana was supposedly giving birth, so Hart's Natasha had to take her place playing the stupid sexually-suggestive games.
The humor in this movie was crude, green and unsophisticated, appealing to the basest of male instincts. The gags were misogynistic with a capital M, insulting women's intelligence, taste and abilities. It is really a big question mark how a backward, vulgar, morally incorrect film can be included among the entries of the Metro Manila Filmfest. Then again, only in a socio-political climate such as we have now could a film with this brand of comedy have ever fulfilled the festival criteria of being "reflective of the Filipino sensibilities." 1/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment