It's been years since I watched a movie on its first day of showing. But due to scheduling conflicts and our excitement to watch I Miss You Like Crazy, I found myself not only reserving for tickets for the first showing date, I also fell in line an hour before show time! It was actually fun, as we got to sit on the carpet and munch on our snacks while waiting for the guards to let us in the theater. It was just like having a picnic except that we were in the middle of a packed mall with all those tempting food stalls.
Anyway, sulit ang fan girl moment! I Miss You Like Crazy was a good movie - the script was well-written, the actors pulled off their roles and most of the time, the scenes looked beautiful (it made me want to visit Kuala Lumpur!)
The movie was about love and the perfect time for it. It involves a love square (as opposed to a love triangle) among John Lloyd Cruz (Alan), Bea Alonzo (Mia), Maricar Reyes (Daphne) and Malaysian actor Gerald Hans Isaac (Mir).
I loved the script - it wasn't perfect but there were no unnecessary scenes and there were very few lines that made me cringe. I loved that it made an effort to let the audience understand how the main characters reached their decisions. The story tackled infidelity and showed sides of it that made it still unforgivable but understandable. There were no villains but the circumstances of the characters provided enough conflict. There were just scenes where I found the conversations about love and relationships a tad too long. I guess I'm just used to Korean and Japanese dramas were philosophical conversations on love and life are reduced to just a line or two.
The director also did an excellent job in casting the roles - everyone, including the supporting actors acted really well. John Lloyd's character was a bit boring (no special quirks except for being conservative in his choice of wardrobe and his house), but he seemed so real. You can easily feel and understand his emotions. Bea, on the other hand, had a very quirky character, which she was able to pull off most of the time. There was one scene where she was trying to act like everything was okay, giving a fake smile while delivering lines that would end in a curse - she was able to pull it off and still look beautiful! The supporting cast only had a few lines (Bembol Rocco did not even utter a single word) but they stayed true to their characters, had perfect timing and made the movie so nice to watch (isn't it awful when they get support casts who don't know how to act?). I specially loved Bembol Rocco, Ina Feleo, Ketchup Eusebio, Maricar and Gerald. Even the horse knew exactly when to pee!
The movie looked so pretty most of the time - the shots of the scenery are so nice that I now want to: (a) ride a boat to cross the Pasig river; and (b) walk around the parks of Kuala Lumpur. I loved the contrast of the clean lines of Daphne's modern condo against the texture of Alan's old house. I also love the choice of angles for the shots - there was a scene where Alan was supposed to be stuck in traffic - they used a low angle that made everything seem so tight that even I felt claustrophobic. Ang galing!
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the wardrobe. Maricar obviously wore a wig. There was one dramatic scene where Mia had a huge wet spot on her dress, which was unfortunately at the crotch area. Even worse was a scene where they focused on Bea's hand with her nails painted a dull grey. I thought they mistakenly inserted scenes from a horror movie! Oh well, nothing really is perfect.
Still, it was a nice movie and it was a good decision to watch it on February 24, 2010. Why? Watch the movie and you'll find out.
And yes, I'm back to blogging.
