VivaOne: Review of WORKING BOYS 2: CHOOSE YOUR PAPA: Labored Laughs

June 27, 2023

Biboy (Wilbert Ross), McCoy (Mikoy Morales), Roy (Vitto Marquez) and Max (Andrew Muhlach) were bums who all just failed their job interviews. As they were all coming out of the building, they got involved in a labor riot outside and got thrown into jail. They were released on the word of Tiyo Papi (Bayani Agbayani), who invited them to live with him, his wife Bebet Loggins (Debbie Garcia), and their adopted son Nikki (Nikko Natividad). 

On Pipo's recommendations, they were given a job working for Engineer (Juliana Parizcova Segovia). There they met co-workers Jessica (Angela Morena), Olivia (Lea Jane), Christine (Angelic Guzman) and Diana (Divine Aucina). They earned the ire of a fellow jobseeker BJ (Bob Jbelli), spoiled son of a rich Mamita (Marissa Sanchez),. When Tiyo Papi had a stroke, the boys had to come up with another bright idea to earn money to pay for his hospital bills. 

Writer Rhandy Reyes (who also played a jailbird) and director Paolo O'Hara (who also played a policeman) were well aware that they were not going for any awards here. They were just trying to create a silly, naughty, juvenile Filipino comedy movie, as inspired by the Tito, Vic and Joey original film shown back in 1985. With those very shallow goals to aim for, how badly could they miss? At least, the labor hiring app of theirs was good idea. 

From the beginning intros, everything was already very noisy, as if shouting lines out loud would make them funny. The comedy was mainly a mad mix of slapstick physical humor, with a dash of mild sex comedy. Jokes also involved odd personal quirks, like crybaby Biboy's bad breath, Roy's random spacing out, Jessica's speech impediment or Divine Aucina's distinctive face. These same old gags had been staples of all local comedies even before TVJ.

Of the boys, only Mikoy Morales would seem to be the natural comic, like a young Anjo Yllana. Wilbert Ross has been the resident star of several Vivamax films and series, but his comic style felt really forced. Of the girls, of course Divine Aucina is in a class all by herself. Vivamax babe Angela Morena was actually quite funny, an unexpected surprise. Same is true with Debbie Garcia, who was having fun riding along with Bayani Agbayani's unpredictable humor. 2/10.