HERE COMES THE BRIDE is the most enjoyable wedding we've attended lately. Most local comedies fail to make us laugh but this one has numerous scenes from start to end that are laugh-out-loud funny, including the bonus sequence after the end credits, so don't leave the theatre right away. Since it's about body swithces, it's still escapist entertainment but one that really works. Writer-director Chris Martinez debuted impressively with an indie dramedy, "100", two years ago. He now shows he can go mainstream, with flying colors as his movie accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. It's as cleverly constructed as a ribtickler of this sort can be and it works because he came up with five major characters who are not just silly caricatures. At some point, we actually find ourselves caring about them and what would happen to them if they won't get back to their original bodies. The fact that we care is hilarious, too.
The five characters are Precy (Eugene Domingo), a hotshot old maid lawyer looking for love; Stephanie (Angelica Panganiban), the soft spoken bride who's a virgin at her wedding night; Medelyn (Tuesday Vargas), the yaya of a spoiled brat who's forever worried about her poor relatives in the province who keep on asking for more money from her; Toffee (John Lapus), a gay image stylist; and Lolo Bien (Jaime Fabregas), the groom's ailing grandpa. On their way to the wedding of Stephanie by the beach, their cars bump into each other while a solar eclipse goes on and results in a merry mix up of souls transferring to other bodies. We won't go into the details of who went into whom. Suffice it to say that what happens next is really a laugh riot that works mainly because all the actors who assume different identities are all outstanding.
At the film's climax, when they try to undo what happened to them after two years of waiting for another eclipse, they all get the chance to portray all the other four characters in the movie other than themselves. And they all exhibit a perfect combination of control and wildness. We particularly enjoyed Jaime Fabregas when he gets inhabited by the souls of Angelica Panganiban and John Lapus. But the scenes that got the most laughs are the bedscenes of Eugene Domingo (possessed by Angelica) and PBB newcomer Tom Rodriguez who plays the groom. Each time they kiss, the audience would shriek with delight. Angelica also really goes to town with her performance as a virgin who gets inhabited by a faggot in heat desperately eager to use his new body with a man. If you want to forget your problems, then you shouldn't miss the guaranteed laughs offered by this movie.
The five characters are Precy (Eugene Domingo), a hotshot old maid lawyer looking for love; Stephanie (Angelica Panganiban), the soft spoken bride who's a virgin at her wedding night; Medelyn (Tuesday Vargas), the yaya of a spoiled brat who's forever worried about her poor relatives in the province who keep on asking for more money from her; Toffee (John Lapus), a gay image stylist; and Lolo Bien (Jaime Fabregas), the groom's ailing grandpa. On their way to the wedding of Stephanie by the beach, their cars bump into each other while a solar eclipse goes on and results in a merry mix up of souls transferring to other bodies. We won't go into the details of who went into whom. Suffice it to say that what happens next is really a laugh riot that works mainly because all the actors who assume different identities are all outstanding.
At the film's climax, when they try to undo what happened to them after two years of waiting for another eclipse, they all get the chance to portray all the other four characters in the movie other than themselves. And they all exhibit a perfect combination of control and wildness. We particularly enjoyed Jaime Fabregas when he gets inhabited by the souls of Angelica Panganiban and John Lapus. But the scenes that got the most laughs are the bedscenes of Eugene Domingo (possessed by Angelica) and PBB newcomer Tom Rodriguez who plays the groom. Each time they kiss, the audience would shriek with delight. Angelica also really goes to town with her performance as a virgin who gets inhabited by a faggot in heat desperately eager to use his new body with a man. If you want to forget your problems, then you shouldn't miss the guaranteed laughs offered by this movie.
