SPOILER ALERT

I saw this Filipino movie about two very gifted individuals last night in North Hollywood. It did make me laugh – some scenes were genuinely funny while others were just downright cheesy and ridiculous. After watching three quarters of the movie, I was beginning to wonder where the film was going in terms of story line. It had redundancies that seemed to just keep playing and it made me ask when would those issues would be addressed. However, it did have both good and bad parts.

A few of my nitpicks were the following:
1. If they were especially gifted, why were they recommended to be enrolled in a school that seemed to be structured for average kids? Our country has really good schools and those schools’ excellence are manifested from the teachers and students. The school they used in this movie came off as mediocre.

2. Zoe’s ankles were so thin, they looked so disproportionate from her legs. Since both were covered anyway, did nobody from production care to make it right?

3. Ayca’s acne looked so fake and so did her nose.

4. Ayca just didn’t seem to be fault free and I couldn’t fully empathize with her.

On the other hand, I loved these about the film:
1. The restaurant scene where Zoe cried while eating the leche flan spitefully ordered by Ayca. It showed a different side of her character. It humanized her.

2. The restaurant scene where Ayca just wanted Zoe to apologize and Zoe just wouldn’t budge. Zoe’s expression, delivery of lines and subtle body movements elevated her to another level of acting. She was the star of this movie. Her character was cute as fat, manipulative spoiled brat Zoe yet she was also able to show a perfect transformation into the cunning, selfish, super sexy femme fatale.

3. Sam’s character, Mark’s funny and convincing Visayan accent.

4. The gowns used at the reunion were beautiful.

5. That moment when Ayca showed a picture of a disfigured Mark to Zoe.

6. Finally, I loved the part where Ayca and Mark came into their hotel room and found the same device that Zoe would leave when she wanted to hurt someone. When Ayca found what the gift was (with I Can as background song), I almost got teary eyed. Almost. 🙂

So overall, it was an entertaining watch but being an avid fan of dark comedy, I would say it was a quasi-gallant effort.