Friday, November 24, 2023

Vivamax: Review of SUGAR BABY: Trite and Tiresome

November 24, 2023


High school valedictorian Jennifer "Jen" (Azi Acosta) was a very religious girl who can quote Biblical verses. However she got involved with a good-for-nothing classmate Spencer (Mon Mendoza) who got her pregnant, and disowned by her strict parents. Their son Alex (Kian Co) was a good little boy, but was frequently sick. While Spencer was saddled with a gambling vice, Jen worked hard as a sales clerk in a jewelry store.

One day, Jen's good friend Rica (Robb Guinto) spent a fortune on several pieces of jewelry. Jen learned that Rica is the kept woman of a certain Mr. Santos (Jeffrey Hidalgo), who ran an exclusive club of sugar daddies, supplying them with sexy ladies who willingly became their sugar babies in exchange for a rich lifestyle. When Alex was diagnosed with leukemia, Jen accepted Rica's invitation to be a sugar baby at her club.  

This is yet another Vivamax film about a poor person being forced into prostitution because of financial constraints. It did not even try to create new reasons for it. Sick child with leukemia -- check. Gambler husband with huge debts and goons after him -- check. It tried to distinguish sugar dating from prostitution, but the way it was presented in the film, there really isn't any difference. There is nothing new about this film at all in terms of its subject matter. 

From her very first film "Pamasahe," Azi Acosta has played variations of this woman forced to provide sexual favors in exchange for money that she desperately needed. With her classic beauty and tall stature, Robb Guinto was also right in her comfort zone as a high-class seductress. In another familiar Vivamax trope, Acosta and Guinto were made to do lesbian sex scenes to stir up more excitement for their viewers.

By Act 2, Jen met a couple of people at the club to perk the story up a bit. Eric (Josef Elizalde) was a young widower who was not yet ready for commitments. Mara (Zsara Laxamana) was a young woman working in London who was conscious that she did not have much time left in her life. However, everything still concluded with a predictable, inevitable ending that we've seen in all prior Vivamax films that dealt with prostitution.  2/10. 


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