Anne is Kylie, a wedding planner and fag hag who’s a bonafide “cover girl” after having had boyfriends who eventually turned out be gay and are just using her as a cover up or “panakip butas”. Her boss, Benj (Paolo Ballesteros), is a straight acting gay who asks her to use her “gaydar” in helping determine whether or not his balikbayan childhood friend and lifelong secret crush, Diego (Dennis Trillo), is also a closet gay, even if he is about to marry another balikbayan girl, Fiona (Yam Concepcion).
All the supposed signs of being a confirmed beki is in Diego (like he can identify the color of Anne’s lipstick and he screams like a girl while watching a horror flick), but Anne, who’s very bitter about gays because of her past experiences with them, still finds herself also drawn to him and worse, slowly falling for him.
The film is from writer-director Jun Lana, who does serious drama in indie films (like “Mga Kuwentong Barbero”, “Anino saLikod ng Buwan”) and light rom-coms with a touch of gay-ness in mainstream films (like “The Prenup” and this one.) Here, he makes sure that gays are not just made fun of but treated with understanding, even Ramon Ramon (a bodyguard of Lola Nidora in Eat Bulaga’s hit Kalyeserye), the buff gay gym trainer who also has the hots for Dennis, and also Michael de Mesa who plays twin roles as Dennis’ dad, a tough military man, and as his uncle/aunt, a fashionable cross-dresser. In effect, the movie’s message is that being gay and loving it is one’s personal decision and there are no strict rules about outing yourself.
After playing gay roles in “Aishite Imasu” and “My Husband’s Lover”, Dennis is now the believable object of affection of gays in this movie, while Paolo is an effortlessly hilarious scene-stealer as his best friend who’s secretly pining for him. Paolo is quite funny even in his asides about Dennis that he whispers only to himself.
All of the leads are given the own moments to shine, but like what we’ve said before, it is the charming and lovable Anne who holds the movie together. She’s effective in both her uproarious moments (like her drunken scene where she vents her wrath and rants against straight-acting fairies and her “moaning” kissing scene with Dennis) and in her serious scenes (like when she finally reveals her true and honest sentiments for Diego.)
Production values from design to cinematography are also first rate. So all in all, if you want light and breezy entertainment, “Bakit Lahat ng Gwapo, May Boyfriend?” is the movie you should watch.
