Who am I?

Mrs. Doubtfire??

I made a mistake. I just got into the mall when I suddenly remembered that I forgot my umbrella in the open parking lot. Upon reaching the lobby it rained right away wrathfully. I could have left my brain for a while in my car before seeing Oh My Girl!. But the weather became erratic, it gave me no choice. And I was right. The security could have placed a warning sign outside the theater similar to the one I see in the trailer of District 9. They could have warned the viewers that the film could prohibit future usage of human emotions, except of course a full-range of facial tweaks while vomiting (endlessly perhaps). Lacuna Incorporated could have been in the credits too by performing a free procedure of erasing one’s memory (selective) after watching.

I could have forgotten the film afterwards but here I am in front of my laptop, remembering such a gloomy experience in this supposedly bubbly comedic film. The ironic effect has been successful without really intending to do so. Oh my, I should not be thinking this way – it has crossed the borders of the film’s intentions. Okay, if you hope to really laugh hard, there’s really a ploy for your wish to come true – amnesia. But you may also skip it; you are not obliged towards self-infliction.

The start of the story shows a little flashback of the lives of our two lead characters. Darling (Judy Ann Santos) gets on the train hoping to travel for a future romance (very 2046). But instead, her recollection of the past always gets in the way. She remembers her childhood as a chubby girl with a raisin mole in her cheek. She is called “Opao”. Biboy is her best friend who is with her when they escaped the orphanage. But due to Opao’s hunger, Biboy is forced to go back. A sudden twist of fate happens when Opao is adopted by a semi-retired beauty queen named Inday Langging (Carmi Martin) and separates the two friends. Biboy runs away and is now taken care by Crisp Pops (Roderick Paulate).

Years have passed, Darling is a successful all-around artist. Biboy (Ogie Alcasid) has not yet reach the success of his long lost friend. It is totally understandable that Biboy is an underachiever since he dedicated his entire life searching for Opao. One day, Biboy heard their friendship song being sung by Darling in one of her television shows. Fast as lighting, his step-brother Bob (John Prats) helps him since he will be part of Darling’s latest commercial. Coincidentally, an old looking lady needs to be in the commercial and Biboy snatches the identity of Aling Sita (Nova Villa) and presents himself as Frida Akikla.

Well at least in here; Ogie’s female impersonation has more humanitarian bearing than his character in Desperadas 2 as Luga Luda. No wonder Darling admired her in an instant and chemistry ignites. But that’s only at the start when most of the succeeding scenarios fail on the aspect of being comical. It seems that before we point a sore finger at our actors, the spoiled script is by large the reason of the films’ downfall. If we also sift through with the actor’s execution, they seem half-dead or even confused with the purpose of their dialogues. So the timing suffers even with our country’s most gifted comedians.

Dante Nico Garcia’s move into mainstream is totally understandable and I think he wants to downplay his previous achievement in Ploning. He wants to get more in touch with an audience. Comedy genre is a great choice that could make a connection since most of us loves to laugh even for the simplest matters. But unintentionally, we laugh in the film for the mishaps of its entirety. It is a misery on their part. They might consider this as their failure to impart genuine comedy.

I enjoy dance sequences in films. Some might get really annoyed with this but I have grown with films that has more dancing and singing. It is important too that this should be done in a way that is not really disparaging to the aim of light comedies. Oh My Girl! has made a parody of the train dance sequence similar to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire upon its closing credits. It could also be the tradition by Mother Lily Monteverde’s previous films in the 80’s and even in the 90’s era when dancing is also part of the credits. I think they just have to use this more often to humanize the characters instead of novel-length dramas happening without really basing the proper emotions. But if they dance, it reinvigorates. The aim gets to be larger than nearly one and a half hour long of sloppy shenanigans. Oh My Girl! has simple aims to make us laugh. Instead, it made me forget that laughing is a great quality of our existence.


Charlie Koon's Rating: