September 7, 2023
Elena "Ganda" Alvarado (Cristine Reyes) came from a family of reformed petty thieves. She now uses her martial arts skills as a stuntwoman in movies. Her mother Rosing (Yayo Aguila) was still in the hospital because they could not pay her bills. Her father Mando (Archie Adamos) and brother JJ (Nikko Natividad) were now in prison for stealing. Desperate, Elena sought help from her crime boss godfather Arturo (Jeric Raval).
Godofredo "Fred" Tan (Empoy Marquez) was the grandson of real estate tycoon, Henry Tan (Boboy Garovillo). He was a lazy spoiled brat who would rather drink and party with random girls in nightclubs, rather than spend time on his job at their firm. Sir Henry believed it was time for Fred to settle down with one woman and start his own family already, giving Fred a deadline to find the right girl to marry already, or be disowned.
Cristine Reyes got to display not only her deep dimples and dramatic chops, but also her action-star fight moves, last seen in "Maria" (2019). Empoy Marquez did not look or act any bit like a multi-millionaire Chinoy heir at all, which was another source of visual comedy. However, he can certainly play an annoyingly narcissistic guy like the back of his hand. He also showed his improved dramatic skills, though his cry face was not pretty like Cristine's.
Boboy Garovillo gave a very dignified and moving portrayal of a kind, loving and understanding Chinoy taipan Lolo Henry. Marnie Lapus had been portraying several sensible mom roles in her recent films, but I've never seen her as over-the-top as her theater actress Violet here. Also getting much screen time were TJ Valderrama as Fred's PA Charrie (how did he do that egg-eating scene?) and Kyo Quijano as his impertinent intern Gelo.
It was already obvious from the poster that Elena was conscripted to kidnap Fred for ransom. However, being a comedy, things do not go exactly as planned. As with other Empoy Marquez films with beautiful leading ladies, the comedy was mainly the usual odd couple routine. Most of the gags were based on how awkward it looked for homely Empoy and pretty Cristine to actually fall in love with each other, this instance being a mutual Stockholm Syndrome.
Director Victor Villanueva first broke into public consciousness with his darkly irreverent but very hilarious road trip movie "Patay Na Si Hesus" (2016) Most of the jokes in this new film still do fly, thanks mainly to the winsome charms of his cast of actors. Some production design details though were inconsistent with the story, like the very spacious house owned by Elena's family or the lack of anything Chinese in the decor of the Tan family mansion. 6/10.
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