Star Cinema's In My Life - Something to Watch Out For

Wow, John Lloyd Cruz is the man! That was what I thought after seeing the full trailer of "In My Life" yesterday. He was so into his character. He was so gay - aaaw! Now this is the kind of film that has the makings of succeeding in the tilts. It was so natural. There seems to be no pretensions.

Unlike "And I Love You So," "In My Life" focused on the story so after seeing the trailer, you will know if you are going to watch it or not. "And I Love You So" tried convincing people that it was a good film by bombarding us with so many "too good to be true" dialogues and lines which were said by the characters in the film. As a moviegoer, I wouldn't be convinced to see the film just because Bea or Connie or Sam said the most cheesy line I have ever heard my entire life. They got so engrossed in looking for these lines that they forgot to market the film in a way that it would be appreciated by many, just like how "In My Life" is currently doing.

I haven't seen Bea's film and I don't have any plans. It did not offer anything new. Even Bea appeared to be old with the kind of story. We've seen same acting from Bea in her past films. They should have given her something different, like what they have let John Lloyd tackle in his new film.

But I may be wrong, maybe it clicked like what is being announced on ABS CBN shows lately. And even if it flopped, people would only attribute that to the fact that the movie wasn't shown on SM cinemas.

Another thing that makes "In My Life" a stand-out as compared with "And I Love You So" was the right pairing of John Lloyd and Ms. Vilma Santos. They owned the screen and the film that even if sometimes I get distracted by Luis Manzano's amateurish attack on his role, especially when he was crying to his mom (ampanget nya umiyak hehe!), I forget about him immediately after seeing scenes with both John Lloyd and Vilma.

The only thing that must be resolved right now is the conflict between SM and Star Cinema. They should act on it fast because they will both lose big time if "In My Life" will suffer from the same fate as "And I Love You So."