Reader's Review: Always Be My Maybe

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Always Be My Maybe (Star Cinema, 2016)

Gerald Anderson

Arci Munoz

Jane Oneiza

Ricci Chan

Cacai Bautista

Directed by: Dan Villegas

Setting A New Standard, Definitely

by. Atty. Ferdinand Topacio

I have personally met Arci Munoz fleetingly a couple of times, and I have always thought her to be an airheaded starlet with a pair of big breasts who would not amount to anything beyond the occasional bit role.

After seeing Always Be My Maybe, I realized I was so wrong.

Munoz played her character with such depth, delicacy and deftness that now I wonder why it took so long for the studio bosses to see her potential. I suppose they were fixated with the usual suspects (Bea Alonzo, Jennylyn Mercado, Sarah Geronimo); in which case, hail to the person who took a chance on Ms. Munoz by casting her for the film’s lead! Although not as physically stunning as, say, Anne Curtis, Munoz fills the screen with an earthy sensuality and a transcendent luminosity – as well as a worldly intelligence -- that makes her a delight to behold.

The premise is nothing new, and is simplicity itself: Jake and Tintin (played by Gerald Anderson and Munoz, respectively), are the boy and girl. He is a wealthy playboy who played the field while maintaining a steady girlfriend; he decides to propose but his hedonistic past catches up with him and his fiancée rejects his offer of marriage. She is a middle-class make-up artist who’s into a no-commitment relationship; her expectations that the liaison would develop into something more permanent are shattered when her beau dumps her unceremoniously. Six months after their hearts are broken, their paths interject; they find themselves by chance on an out-of-town seaside get-away. On a dare from her friends, Tintin walks up to Jake and gives him “the moves.” If she meant to seduce, it was a fiasco, but nonetheless, they take to each other – not romantically yet – but in a way two kindred souls with a common traumatic experience would meld. They talk until the morning comes, and agree to keep in touch.

And thus the story shows us how these two lovelorn people progress from being “just friends” to something more serious. From being each other’s emotional crutches, they become, as the Iberians would say, un poco mas de amigos, un poco menos de amadores (a little more than friends, a little less than lovers). Then comes the time when familiarity segues into physical intimacy. The film then poses this question: does sex ratchet up the level of commitment in a relationship, or is it possible for a relationship to remain innominate despite corporeal contact?

Director Dan Villegas improves greatly upon the formula he used on English Only, Please of gently exploring the growth of a romantic relationship through dialogue. Effective in EOP, it becomes more highly so here with the principal characters having a more detailed backstory, and with the lines partly improvisational. As a character study, it works, in great part because Munoz has so completely immersed herself in her role as Tintin. Equal parts kooky and sexy, she becomes immensely likable from the opening scene.

The other actors also did their part. Anderson superbly underacted, giving his character, who is supposed to be a cocky and confident man-of-the-world type, enough vulnerability for the moviegoer to sympathize with. Villegas’ use of extreme close-ups whenever Jake and Tintin talk is quite clever: showing every little flutter of the eyelids, every furrowing of the brow, a slight movement of the lips, the gestures perfectly complemented the snazzy dialogue, supplying non-verbal cues to the complex mix of emotions simmering just below the surface of each character.

The movie, however, is still your typical rom-com, and to be sure, Star Cinema (and Villegas) kept a consistent eye out for the factors that please. Thus, we still have the obligatory best friends and family, but thankfully, their ubiquity has been reduced. Ricci Chan, in particular – whose over-the-top acting I have panned in the past, is wonderfully subdued here. The talented Cacai Bautista – who in this movie bears a striking resemblance to broadcast journalist Doris Bigornia but with red hair – delivers most of the comic relief punch lines with panache. The dialogue is replete with retweetable quotes. On the whole, the support is topnotch, the only sour note being the newbie who played Tracy, Jake’s ex, who performed as if she were stricken with a bad case of amoebiasis.

The conflict created is the weak link of the movie, with Villegas recycling the “ex factor” used in EOP to produce discord between the protagonists. A stronger, more original reason should have been made for the main characters to quarrel. The conflict resolution in the Third Act is also too pat, and out of synch with the pacing of the movie, giving viewers the impression that it was being rushed towards an ending.

In the end, Always Be My Maybe blazes no new trails, but it expansively improves upon and refines the genre conventions of a romance movie. The first love scene of Jake and Tintin deserves special mention for being innovative and adventurous, pushing the limits without going overboard. That last phrase, I believe, aptly describes the entire movie. In definitely setting a new standard as one of the best evolutions thus far of a rom-com, it may prove the catalyst for its director to later on bravely breach the standards he himself has set.