The Success of Bride for Rent and the Decision to Break Up the Kim Chiu and Xian Lim Tandem on TV

Credits to Xian Lim's Instagram account - xianlimm

This is a long overdue review of this film that made me laugh so hard and fall in love even more with its two leads. I watched it along with my family, including my 3 and 9-year-old nieces who both adore KimXi. We made sure that we were at the cinema before the first screening, but the line was so long that we ended up 10 minutes late for the screening, but at least, we were still able to secure good seats.

I am not really a fan of the director in terms of her visuals. But Direk Mae Cruz is a genius when it comes to storytelling. She makes sure that she does not leave anything hanging or missed out.

Story wise, Bride for Rent is quite simple and formulaic. Based on the casts' past interviews, they started filming this without a finished story and script, so at the start, they did not have any idea as to where this would lead. The writers of this film, I believe, were on-call on the set most of the time. I can just imagine the rigorous brainstorming sessions that took place after each working day or even after each take, while the group was still creating this bound to be blockbuster hit.

The finished film was a group effort and they appeared to have a happy ambience on the set most of the time, based on the Instagram and Twitter posts of many of the people involved in its creation.

It is not the story that lured many of its viewers to pay in order to see the film. Even with the trailer, you would already know that it is a cliche type of story. Most people flocked the cinemas for three reasons: 1. Kim Chiu was very funny. Even in the trailer, one will laud at Kim's comedic timing. She was good in BHKCNCM, but she was at her best (in terms of comedy) in BFR. 2. Xian Lim already has gotten a lot of swooning girls' following from BHKCNCM and he looks even sexier in BFR. He has also improved a lot in acting, especially with his dramatic moments. 3. The most important reason why many people could not get enough of the film and many are willing to pay for it over and over again to take another peek is the enigmatic chemistry between Kim and Xian. When I watched it, people were so kilig each time Rocco and Rocky would share the screen time. This loveteam has the magic that is quite hard to ignore.

After the first screening ended, we were supposed to transfer seats, so that we could be nearer to the exit since we would only be catching up on the few scenes that we did not see. But there seemed to be an onslaught of people in the cinema that no one could leave their seats, even just to take a CR break, worried that they would lose their places. It was even more surprising when we were about to leave the cinema. We could not find the stairs. People were all over. There were people up to the CR’s doors and they were all willing to endure such viewing experience in order to watch this flick. It was the first time that I experienced this in the cinema. It was the first weekend run of BFR. The next weekend, they already opened two cinemas, which both became full-packed.

Congrats to the BFR team and its coherent director. Congrats to the writers and other creative staff for coming up with memorable lines. Congrats to the efficient supporting casts. Congrats to Kim and Xian and their overflowing chemistry.

After the hit and success came the KimXi break-up on TV:

Rocco and Rocky are ordinary characters that were given life and excitement by Kim and Xian. For sure, many viewers have become fans of the team-up after seeing the film. They weren't given this kind of exposure on their TV projects. Most of the time, especially on their last TV soap, Ina, Kapatid, Anak, it appeared that they were only used, especially Kim, since she was the bigger star, in order to boost the career of the other actors. The horrors of IKA, there were even nights when Kim would have fewer scenes in favor of Maja Salvador's character, even if the latter would only frequent the bar and other unimportant scenes that could have already been omitted.

Well, that's the difference between TV and film. Although I am not happy with the news that ABS-CBN has decided to break the KimXi tandem on TV, giving Kim different partners (both actors whom are favored by the drama unit known as Dreamscape, Jake Cuenca and Coco Martin) and not having announced regarding what they plan about Xian's TV career, I think that it is already expected, although it still hurts.

From the fans' point of view, both Xian and Kim are not their drama unit's favorites. As a KimXi fan, I am already looking forward to their movies. If ever Xian would be delegated to another drama unit, I also look forward to the roles that would be given to him. As for Kim, I am pretty sure that many of her fans are now worried that she might again be given the kind of treatment that she had with IKA and, of course, Tayong Dalawa, which eventually became a Coco-centric soap and they even killed Kim's character in the end. Both soaps were produced by Dreamscape. At least, this new soap that stars Kim along with Coco Martin, will be handled by her director in My Binondo Girl, Malu Sevilla. I hope that Direk Malu will give Kim the proper exposure and airtime that she deserves with her status, being not only a hitmaker on TV, but on movies as well. I will watch it for the love of Kim.

I will miss the KimXi tandem on TV. I will miss Kim doing comedy. It is hard to be a fangirl, especially when the actors that you are rooting for work in a station, where favoritism is the name of the game. Well, at least, I still could hope for their future movies and while it is still showing, let us all watch Bride for Rent over and over again.

My Binondo Girl - the Confused Finale

This was the second to the last night of My Binondo Girl, but instead of forcing myself to wake up upon hearing Kim Chiu’s cute voice saying, “Ni hao, mga Kapamilya,” I opted to continue sleeping. After the first gap though, I was fully awake and thank God, I was no longer able to see a glimpse of Jade crying for Onyx and other Onyx-centric scenes.  

Or so I thought.

Yep, there was no more Onyx on screen, but Jade’s character kept on mentioning his name as if everybody’s lives should now revolve on finding justice for him.

This is typical of a Kim Chiu drama. I just thought that My Binondo Girl would be an exception because this was marketed as light and fun. In Tayong Dalawa, Kim was only used to develop more challenging plots to the character of Coco Martin. The same thing happened with Kung Tayo’y Magkakalayo. It was supposed to be a Kim-Gerald, Kris-Albert-Gabby soap, but overall, Coco Martin’s character was given more depth, more story and even without telling it to the viewers’ faces, Coco was treated as lead in these two soaps.

Now, now, what went wrong to My Binondo Girl? First, it could not sustain the original idea that Jade would eventually end up with Onyx because more people embraced Kim’s team-up with Xian Lim, who’s playing the role of Andy (quite effectively, I must say).

So the creative forces behind MBG gave in to the point that Andy married Jade in Hong Kong, they lived together and had their limited share of kilig moments. Why limited? Because every time there is a good opportunity to give in to a good heartwarming scene that involves Andy and Jade, the creative people will intervene and make sure that Onyx’ presence will not be taken for granted.

This last week, actually the last three weeks, were already geared for the story to revolve around Onyx. I did not watch this soap because of Jolo Revilla. I did not watch this either because of Xian Lim. The latter only became a bonus because he was so good & quite good looking, if I must add – two characteristics that cannot be said about how Jolo played his part, considering that he is more veteran than Xian.

I watched the show because of Kim Chiu, but what hooked me really was that the feel was light, the story did not have heavy plots or gory twists, it did not resort to goons and guns… Or so I thought, that’s why I felt cheated. It only waited until it already got the signal that they’d be airing the final week before the story became heavy and the goons and guns were presented.

This final week should have focused more on Jade as a daughter to her dying father, Jade as a bride/wife to her very loyal husband and Jade on learning how to live her life without relying too much on Onyx, who should have been given a different exit route, something that will prove that he really was a man of honor and that his life did not revolve solely on Jade.

Onyx’ death was pointless. Actually, everything that has happened this week was pointless. No matter how this would end tomorrow, it has already created distaste that would be hard to forget.

Oh well, I really can’t do anything about this because I was only a mere viewer. I hope that Kim Chiu and Xian Lim can have a project that would be handled by people who will stick with what would be good for the show and not for a single character alone.

Good bye, My Binondo Girl. Salamat naman, natapos din. Ayoko na ulitin haaaay…  

Showbiz Breakups, Love and How DJ Mo Stole the Limelight in a Flash

Whew! What a tsismis-filled week for local showbiz. Not that I'm complaining, tsismosa ako e =)

Update on the Piolo Pascual - KC Concepcion breakup: As expected, ABS-CBN is doing everything to sanitize the issue and to make sure that people's attention will be turned to how good of a person Piolo is. Gone were the days when celebrities would not want their charitable acts to be broadcasted. Piolo's latest advocacy (a teamup with Star Magic), the feeding program, is all over the news.

This is too much. I am a Piolo fan, pero naiinis ako how his home network is handling the issue. Pwede namang quiet na lang. Everybody wants him to speak about the breakup, even though he would only say 'No Comment.' This is not the right time to bombard people with news of his charitable deeds. Oh, well....

Another couple who seems to be on the rocks is Mateo Guidicelli and Maja Salvador. Oh, Amber, I still can't forgive you for what happened with my favorite on-screen couple, Jade and Andy, in My Binondo Girl. I was actually surprised about the breakup issue between Maja and Mateo.

I remember last week, before Maja left for abroad to do some shows with Coco Martin, there were even pictures and tweets of how sweet Maja and Mateo were while they were taping for My Binondo Girl. When Maja was already abroad, she started tweeting things that culminate to the final straw - "It's over."

The tsismosa in me wanted to ask, ano sinabi mo Coco? Hehe! Pakialamera lang =) None is final yet about the issue because no one's talking about it on national TV. Puro tweets.

And on to another issue, which is kinda eeeww, the Vic Sotto - Pauleen Luna rumored affair. Is this for real? Pauleen could pass as Vic's grand daughter already. And Pia Guanio is still in Eat Bulaga and... ang gulo. lahat na lang, ganun? Another oh, well... buhay nila yan.

And the top news maker of the week is the super emo, DJ Mo. I tried my best no to watch his confession video throughout the day, but the tsismosa in me won in the end of the struggle and clicked on the link that I found on PEP.

It was all whisper and singhot. I ended up reading the captions. I hated DJ Mo more for this stuff. He was at fault in the first place. How old is Rhian Ramos, by the way? Mo was the one more mature. He should have protected her when they have decided to give in to their lust.

Rhian has committed a sin, a very grave one that she would be sorry for even beyond death. So the video implied that it was Rhian's sole decision to abort the baby and that Mo tried his best to save it and when he could no longer do anything about it, he opted to confess how he feels and record it on video.

The baby's life was lost. Mo has lost his desire to work (I guess). By letting the public see this confession video, Mo is only making things harder for Rhian. Does he want her to commit suicide? What if she does, what is he going to do? Do another confession video?

This is another issue that must be settled outside the limelight. If Mo really loved Rhian, he would have protected her from all these issues. He could have tried doing charitable deeds and learn from Piolo on how to distract people's attention from the real issue.

The story is now getting more complicated. Mo should really leave the country as soon as he can, because he would surely be filed charges over the accusations that he blurted on the infamous video. Or he can also decide to stay and be a man, for once, and face the consequences of what he did.