November 28, 2023
Mickey delos Santos (Dante Bascon) owned a small nondescript Filipino coffee shop in Queens, although his long-time dream had been to own his own Michelin-star Filipino restaurant. He is currently in the process of divorcing his fashion designer wife Avery (KC Concepcion), so their 10-year old daughter Sam (Scarlett Sher) had to shuttle between the two of them on specified days in a week.
One night, Mickey brainstormed with his bartender best friend Caspian (Kevin Kreider) about how he can avoid the alimony payments. So in a haze of alcohol and weed, he registered Avery on an online dating app so she can meet a good man whom she can re-marry. When they saw Avery matched up with Wall Street finance guy named Lee (Paolo Montalban), Mickey thought this was the right guy for her.
The main screwball comedy story this film about arranging for an ex-wife to have a new husband had could honestly have been conceptualized to accommodate any nationality. But since the filmmakers were both Filipino-American (director Jhett Tolentino and writer Mike Ang), of course, there will be a lot of uniquely Filipino pop references and melodrama here and there, so Filipino viewers will definitely appreciate this more.
KC Concepcion was positively radiant and likable as Avery. With her classy ensembles and winsome smile, Tolentino made her look so perfectly in contrast with the drab, homely Mickey. Even if they did have a short segment about how the two of them met, the contrast between their looks and personality was so stark, you'd wonder how they got to be married in the first place, and how he could let her go so carelessly.
The first time I saw Dante Basco in action, it was in his 2021 film entitled "The Fabulous Filipino Brothers." He does not have his brothers to support him now, but he did well to hold the fort in the lead role, even if Mickey kept making the worst decisions. Everybody remembers Paolo Montalban as the Prince of Brandy's "Cinderella" (1997). His Lee was a man who easily lost his nerve around women, so he needed to be coached real-time, so cartoonishly unrealistic.
Child actress Scarlett Sher was such a delightful presence as little Sam. She connected very well with Basco and Concepcion even if there did not seem to be any Filipino blood in her. Korean-American actor Kevin Kreider had a very charismatic screen presence, it was too bad he wasn't on that much by the third act. It was fun to see Fe delos Reyes as Avery's mom, as were the cameos by Rex Navarrette, Maya Encila and Tony Labrusca. 5/10.
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