What? I liked it. Nevermind that I hate Sam Milby (Lance) and his mouth was too big for his face, I guess, other than the bad delivery of some lines, his acting was okay, and he was pretty in character. Although, if you ask me, it's not very realistic for PhilAm guys with bands to be that famous, and for vocalists of famous bands like that to remember their childhood sweethearts, with whom they shared very brief and also very doubtful moments with, but we're talking about a movie anyway, so events that aren't very plausible are acceptable, and I guess, even a norm. Especially when you're really just trying to sell toothpaste.

Not bad for the first Close-up movie ever (whatever that is) though, and I guess if they ever make another one and hold another contest to cast the extras, it'd still make money. Maybe even more. But why am I still talking about the production stuff and not the movie itself?

Because there's nothing in the movie I can find to really complain about. John Lloyd Cruz (Palits/Manuel) and Bea Alonzo (Marian) played their parts to perfection. This is actually the first movie of theirs that I've seen on the big screen so I don't know if they got better or they were really good together to begin with, but anyway, they're not irritating to watch. I didn't know John Lloyd could be so funny, and Bea so, well, believable.

It was also cool how they traveled throughout the movie, promoting local and foreign tourism. And not a bad screenplay either. Actually, the screenplay was quite good, compared to most other local films because really, there was no line that I was able to predict. And the conversation Palits and Marian had in the car, towards the ending of the movie, well, the timing and the exchange was just perfect. Not very many love lessons though, and I didn't like Marian's sister's speech--the whole, "being torn between a habit and a dream" thing just doesn't make a lot of sense, but she was playing a clueless younger sister anyway.

So far, in my list of local romantic comedy movies, I guess this would be the second. (First would be Rico Yan and Claudine Barretto's Got 2 Believe) Nevermind that the story's so overused (the "best friend" and "rockstar" thing), and that the characters' professions was so Got 2 Believe (guy = photographer; girl = flower arranger/wedding planner), at least the treatment was good, and they didn't make things work. This movie deserves a big round of applause!

* Just a note: I think the director for this movie, Cathy Garcia-Molina, is also one of the directors of Bcuz of U, I kinda recognize her name. Anyway, she probably directed the Hero-Sandara part of that movie, so, well, no wonder I liked this one so much!