Movie Review: This Guy’s In Love With U, Mare

After the phenomenal success of Praybeyt Benjamin, Direk Wenn V. Deramas is back with another box-office bid in the newest comedy film of Star Cinema titled "This Guy’s In Love With U, Mare" starring box-office trio Vice Ganda, Toni Gonzaga and Luis Manzano.

Released last October 10 in cinemas nationwide, the film tackles the complexity of modern relationships by going beyond the mainstream man-woman romance into a gay-man-woman love triangle story of Lester (Vice), Gemma (Toni), Mike (Luis).

Lester is a salon-owner who becomes devastated after his boyfriend of three years Mike breaks up with him due to the latter’s excuse of religiosity. But Lester later finds out that Mike is actually engaged to a well-off bank clerk named Gemma. Feeling humiliated and betrayed, he schemes a plan to keep the two apart by pretending to be a straight man and diligently court Gemma.

“This Guy’s…” is Direk Wenn’s third collaboration with Vice Ganda and their box-office team up still sells among moviegoers grossing 100-million pesos in its first week of showing.

Vice Ganda, known for his improvised one-liner jokes, remains unmatched. His effortless dropping of sarcasms and humorous expressions make the most laugh all throughout the film. Although some of his punch lines were flat, it is immediately salvaged by his amusing role as a “straight” man.

Like most of her romcoms, Toni Gonzaga’s presence is also entertaining. She can express almost all kinds of emotions – funny, crazy, angry or hurt – whenever the script demands her to do so. Her versatility makes her a supreme lead actress in the romantic comedy genre.

On the other hand, Luis Manzano is good to settle for a leading man role. His efforts to deliver jokes are worthy of consideration but most of his humors have a tendency to fluctuate.

The film is commendable for taking a bold step in tackling the sensitive issue of homosexual relationship in a Catholic and highly conservative society like the Philippines. However, the plot lacks depth as it only shows the superficial in order to pull the comedy that is expected from the film.

The character of Lester also reflected a negative image of homosexuals. In the film, Lester (Vice) is Mike’s source of wealth (for he financially supported him in his college education during their three-year relationship); and a desperate gay who can turn into a witch in order to satisfy his sexual desires. The stereotype that “a real man should be macho,” also surfaced. Gemma and her parents are very much impressed with Lester’s fighting skills when he pretentiously mauled his friends (who disguised as holdapers) compared to Mike who is depicted as a weakling.

In the end, the selling point of “This Guy’s In Love With U, Mare” is the comedy. The wittiness of the theme offers the audience a refreshing view of the conventional type of comedy films that we normally see. And moviegoers deserve all the laughs from this movie.   

"This Guy’s In Love With U, Mare" full movie trailer