stumbling upon two movies the past month on dvd starring two chain-smoking leading ladies, film-viewing wavered me a bit from the very exciting world of housework which is never-ending unlike the reese witherspoon-ryan phillippe coupling.
one is sharon cuneta's p.s. i love you from 1981, a teenybopper with gabby concepcion. a former smoker who only stopped recently or so i've read from her website, sharon cuneta.com -- sharon's second foray into the movies, p.s. i love you has the basic plot of all her earlier features, rich girl meets rich boy, conflict with parents/friends, but a happy ending as always. i've never seen dear heart or my only love. i've had glimpses of cross my heart, forgive and forget, friends in love and to love again. yes, i'm well-versed on the megastar's filmography but i'm not a sharonian. sharon cuneta is just an embodiment of a fantasy. who doesn't want to be a rich girl? but she took her privileged upbringing one step higher, as an affluent charmer adored by the masses, whom without her parents money became a rich girl by her own right.
back to p.s. i love you. christine (sharon) met mike (gabby) at a polo match. christine didn't like mike at first. but who wouldn't adore the old gabby concepcion of yore with his cute smile and dreamy eyes? the young lady of 16, eventually succumbed to the lure of mr. close up. alas, christine's mom isabel (boots anson roa), a widow, disapproved of mike. mike was the only son of her former boyfriend, emilio, (eddie garcia -- who also directed the movie), whom she dumped for christine's father. at the start of the film, christine's family hacienda was the collateral for a p100 million loan from emilio's bank. the hacienda was subject for foreclosure, but isabel was rescued by her richer friends, dave and amanda played by tony carrion and barbara perez. in the end, isabel relented to her daughter's pleas hence that picturesque ending with the horse and helicopter.
the houses used as mike's and christine's digs were stunningly huge and we wonder why there are so many poor people in the philippines. how come some pinoys accumulate so much wealth? sharon's film might have been a vacuous offering on young love but it makes us (or it's just me), examine social issues besetting dear mother land more than any other films set in the slums.
another film which i picked up from the check-out was that of another smoker, jen aniston's rumor has it. i'm not sure if the former rachel has quit puffing her merits but reading from my collection of mag covers, quite unlikely. and rumor has it as a movie? a simple waste of time. the backdrop was flimsy. set in 1997, when clinton was still president, the main character believed that her family was the foundation for the graduate. shirley maclaine, the grandma, was anne bancroft's mrs. robinson and kevin costner's beau burroughs was the basis for benjamin braddock, dustin hoffman's role. how can someone as beautifully packaged as sarah huttinger (aniston) be conflicted? working in the obituary section of the new york times is not exactly cleaning toilets. how can poor sarah fell for the charms of the costner character? i know mark ruffalo as a boyfriend may be a bland lawyer who cannot enunciate properly but not everybody looks like brad pitt and mr. angelina jolie has the perfect drawl. go check out snatch with his special brand of irish accent or seven years in tibet where you're wondering whether he's speaking german or english.
probably, no amount of writing or directing or casting (supporting roles for mena suvari --sister, richard jenkjns -- father and kathy bates --family friend in the trailer) could have saved this film. but actors commit bad choices in their lifetime. even meryl streep sometimes hits a snag. rumor has it though had netted more in US box office than in her shoes, an earlier release where shirley maclaine first portrayed the role of grandma to two sisters. anyhow in her shoes had a more favorable review from the new york times (photos from the films' publicity reels).
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