February 1, 2024
Junjee Karion (Pepe Herrera) was raised by his mother Pasing (Angie Castrence) as a girl until he realized he was male when he was 7 years old. When his dad abandoned them, she raised Junjee alone, so he was very devoted to her. He was now studying to be a caregiver, planning to work as one in Canada and then bring his mother there one day. He was very serious with his studies, and never went out to have fun with his friends.
One night, Junjee reluctantly obeyed an order by his mom to visit an aunt who was going to introduce him to a girl. At the train station, he saw a drunk girl (Toni Gonzaga) who was swaying so badly, she almost fell into the tracks if he did not intervene to save her. On the train, the girl vomited onto the head of an old man, and the other passengers ordered Junjee to clean him up because they all thought she was his girlfriend.
This Filipino adaptation was a faithful remake of the original Korean movie "My Sassy Girl" (2001), directed and co-written by Kwak Jae-yong. Everything happened as it happened in the original -- the meet-cute at the train, the reason she was drunk, her fondest ambition, the heartbroken soldier (Leander Vera Cruz), her contrarian parents (Boboy Garovillo and Alma Moreno), her blind date (Ivan Padilla), and their time capsule buried beside a tree.
One notable difference was how that the girl in this Filipino adaptation was given the name Sheena Baltazar. It was not made clear exactly how Junjee found out, but he somehow knew and addressed her as such on their second meeting. One of the scripts Sheena wrote was about a superheroine named Super Sampal who fought a tikbalang. The girl's sports Kendo and Squash in the original was changed to Arnis for Sheena.
The original film became a monster hit all over Asia and inspired adaptations in Asia, Europe and Hollywood. This Filipino version is out more than 20 years after the original, which makes it a bit too late in the game already. Then again, of course it could revive interest about the story for a new generation, but this version is unlikely to ever reach the beloved status the original had, or make its lead actress an Asian icon as Jun Ji-hyun had been.
On their own, Toni Gonzaga and Pepe Herrera were very capable actors in both their dramatic and comedic scenes. However, there was not much real spark nor romantic thrill between them to excite or delight viewers when they were together. In any case, the way director Fifth Solomon handled the revelations building up to the ending was still able to make us root for the two of them to wind up together despite all the gaslighting and ghosting that went on. 6/10.
*****
My review of the original "My Sassy Girl" (2001) is posted HERE.
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