Spoiled Humor

I'll kell you Yaya!

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Yaya and Angelina: The Spoiled Brat Movie is like a pacifier to appease avid followers who just can’t get enough of this duo. It was originally made for a television sitcom which explores the relationship of a brat and her nanny that becomes her eager prey. Well at least the amusement is already built in place. It could easily infect laughter for their antics which also brought them to fame and become household personalities. But let us be a little shrewd as the margin of merits in the silver screen is categorically above the mark of lame topical gags from the television.

Well, the film is like backtracking the event before the rich family of Angelina got her affable and martyrish nanny. Angelina (Ogie Alcasid) is this eight years old girl, not a bubbily-baby but a pygmy sized bratling who drives her nannies mad with her extreme frolics. She may perhaps believe that a nanny must endure all the throbbing dilemmas since she knows she could get away with it. One day, there is a big explosion in their mansion and causes her ‘back then’ nanny (Regine Velasquez) to be hospitalized – she never comes back. Then, a new nanny walks in their home showing glee in her face and her name is Rosalinda.

Rosalinda (Michael V.) plays the next in line to be beatified for exemplary nanny-endurance in taking care of the rascal. The next thing she might not be aware of is that, does she have what it takes to pass death-defying exploits that Angelina is craving? Well, at least we could see in her eyebrows that she has still some time-off to pluck it out and stay in style. The key element of this comedy is to be a willing victim. And the audience itself is an extension to that.

The comedy devices they are using in the film are quite sufficient. It has a mixture of parody and heavy use of slapstick. Although the execution of the entire gag is deplorable since the film is only making reference to its television sitcom counterpart typical. It took the adventure literally and sometimes if it gets executed by the actors, the creasing moments look intentionally made for television but not for a film. I think the action sequences have its stall since it involves cues that should look hilarious and yet it looks sloppy and superfluous. The improvements could have been more with its overall aesthetics of comedy such as its treatment. I’m laughing in slow motion and that is quite phony if you will ask me. Laughing backwards could be more fun.

I might not be the right person to be asked if the film as it is could be an enjoyable treat when it is available in DVD. But mind you, television shows could be really enjoyable that is why Yaya and Angelina has the edge if it is done with caution. I have always enjoyed slapstickish comedy films which may not necessarily imply that their dumb. There is no excuse for dumb so I am no member of the Intelligentsia Club and be bigoted towards the film – no hard feelings. It’s just not the cream of the crop.

If you are a fanatic, no one can prohibit you from watching the film. People can easily admire Ogie Alcasid and Michael V. for their persistence to create characters that could be best exaggerated and charming – you bet. Alcasid has been playing opposite sex roles like Luga Luda in Desperadas 2 and Frida Akikla in Oh My Girl!. Gender switching could easily smash in instant laughter. Alcasid has created a better character now than the previous two.

Yaya and Angelina: The Spoiled Brat Movie could be a deadlock sign for an enjoyable treat in films. There might be a couple of laughing moments but its stay only at that point and they have to reassess that farcical comedies should have tight gears. It should deviate from the lackluster style of television as film appreciation could be astute. Yaya and Angelina might be the Starsky and Hutch of local films and we might expect more shenanigans from these two determined comedians.

Charlie Koon's Rating:

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:

Desperate for Laughter

Go Girl! Girl Power!

Desperadas 2 is a not ingeniously made comedy film. The film tries to jest any possible in-joke or even tries to blend the vernacular with a twang of absurdity but it could not save the film from shame. Probably that’s the entire point of it. It has a ridiculous plot, executed in a tremendously sluggish manner. I could have laughed because of the misery of the shambled production, not due to the film’s hilarity.

The story is easy to follow through. There are four half-sisters, and all of them have chock-full of attitude problems. Courtney is played by the masa pleaser Marian Rivera. Her full-time problem is she dislikes having a baby despite being married to a not-so-hunky hunk husband Patrick (Will Devaughn). Isabella (Ruffa Gutierrez) is a matron who tries to control the career of her younger lover Vito (Jay-R). The suicidal Stephanie (Iza Calzado) is having a post-partum syndrome and picks a fight with everyone especially her husband Richard (TJ Trinidad). Patricia played by the wacky Rufa Mae Quinto gets troubled with her relationship with Congressman Fely played by Christian Vasquez.

Comparing all the characters, I personally think that Quinto’s character is adequately conveyed through the screen. Her trademark of dense humor will always be well-liked. But there is an extreme twist to the storyline. They have another half-sister who is played by Ogie Alcasid. She is Luga Luda, a tranny looking princess from the island of Kehwali in South Africa. She speaks gibberish but most of the time in an SMS way of conversing, I get the entire idea of it. Well, she is also desperate. She craves for twinks with an oblique carnivorous gusto.

Aside from their attitude which is compulsory in a way because of the film’s title, you can also see how women have discovered shopping for clothes and makeup makes them at ease. They smile throughout while sashaying in Bonifacio High Street. Not to mention that we are in a tropical country. They all looked glamorized under the unswerving heat of the sun. Despite their pathetic lives, they maintain a pretentious demeanor while they are strutting their stuff in public.

The technicalities for Desperadas 2 are nearing mediocrity. It looks rushed in most parts. Even dubbing is again evident with all the unsynchronized mouthing of words. Weaving the story of the dilemmas of these sisters looks nondescript. It appears to be sloppily written and the leverage for this kind of comedy is like the audience from the primordial times. It is not progressive at all. The comedy element in this film could not be defined even in various forms. It is opprobrious to the terms slapstick or burlesque for the dry humor it has given away.

I am sure that the lad paired with Luga Luda was ensorcelled. She has no redeeming loveliness in her. Despite the contrived goodness she has shown to her other sisters, we have to be reminded that she has carnivorous tendencies (literal sense) for crying out loud. And with the other women in this film, there is nothing that could be admired for their plight for being a free woman. It gives a negative light on womanhood and a shameful light on Filipino comedies especially to a jaundiced eye. There are other better comedy films than this. A film does not need any feministic concepts to make the film look pragmatic in context and superior in substance. Sometimes, it just causes a film to be very messy and hypocritical.


Charlie Koon's Rating: