Hating Kapatid

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Is this a movie or a string of product placements put together onscreen for easy profit? Product placements are okay as long as done with subtlety. You would not cover the brand of your Belo facial cleanser tube in real life with tissue, would you? But does the camera really need to zoom in on the brand name as if it had its own billing? Showing it being used by the characters without calling too much attention to it would suffice. Same thing with the Cebuana Lhuillier promo ad, and Sarah really had to mention the name. It is funny at first, but to be bombarded with it all throughout the movie? Come on.

Saving grace: Vice Ganda, the confrontation scene, and Luis Manzano. No doubt that the set of actors involved could all act, but the story and characterization are just lacking. These consequently drag their performance down. Materials like this are better off as sitcoms where there would be more avenue for character and plot development in the long run. That way the dull moments would be understandable and the characters' antics would not seem annoyingly redundant.

The confrontation scene is nice because Sarah Geronimo gets to hold her own against Judy Ann Santos, and then of course Cherry Pie Picache is awesome as always, so this scene works. It is probably that one moment where the ensemble acting tells you: "Hey, it is not our fault the movie sucks, but at least we can act."

Derramas' style of comedy has failed to evolve over time. He highly depends on exaggeration bordering on absurdity. This brand of comedy is better than slapstick, but easily gets exhausting once abused. And wow, is it not abused in this film, like a gum that has lost all flavor from too much chewing. The human domino scene in particular easily becomes annoying three seconds into the joke. And it had to be done twice.

Comedies like this one are fun to watch, but knowing that the local movie industry is capable of much better projects with a different approach to comedy (ex. Kimmydora) as opposed to these formulaic examples makes you want to ask: Is it still worth your money? Or should you just wait for it to come out on TV? Hire better writers, the industry badly needs them. Innovation is key. And we are tired of the same old formula. We deserve better. The brilliant actors in this movie deserve better.