We’re too old for this sh*t.

Yey! First post for Portmanteau’s (mis)Adventure feature! If you haven’t read my introductory post regarding this, click this link. For our fist adventure, we decided to watch She’s Dating the Gangster. It wasn’t really part of whatever plans we have. It just so happen that when we had coffee together, we talked about the movies Kwesi is posting and rating in his FB account. One of the movies he recently watched and rated was SDtG. We were all amused with his commentaries and his courageous stint of seeing a mainstream film catering to screaming, hormonal teenagers in its first week, ALONE. Since one of us wanted to watch the film (Sheryl that was you), I challenged everyone to see it. None of us normally go to cinemas to watch local films except during Cinemalaya. I rarely go to movie houses at all. I prefer my couch over the big screen so this was a real challenge for me. There is the possibility of brooding over the time, effort and money I’d give into something I would regret in the end. Of course, no one in their right mind wants that but since I won’t be alone in this craziness, why not give it a try?

She’s Dating the Gangster

Star Cinema, 105 Minutes
Released on July 16, 2014
Romantic Comedy, Drama

Watched in June, 2014

Athena Dizon plays a trick on campus heartthrob and bad boy, gangster, Kenji de los Reyes. Setting up an arrangement to pretend as lovers-to make his ex jealous-they found themselves falling to each other yet falling apart.

Director: Cathy Garcia-Molina
Writer: Carmi Raymundo

Cast: Daniel Padilla, Kathryn Bernardo, Richard Gomez, Dawn Zulueta

Based from the Wattpad novel by Bianca Bernardino

To make things difficult, the day we scheduled to watch the film was also Marvel’s Guardian’s of the Galaxy’s first showing day. We were all so tempted to ditch the challenge and watch that instead but I won’t allow them to back down on our plans. In the end, SDtG won. We decided to see the last full show to avoid teenagers and spare ourselves from screaming fans whenever Daniel Padilla is on the big screen. It was charming seeing families lining up to watch the film that late. I love the idea of how supportive these parents are in letting their kids see what they want and how patient they were in being with them. I also saw some Lolos and Lolas. What I didn’t anticipate were adult couples having SDtG as their date night.  Like, seriously? Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo a date night film? If they want to make out inside the cinema, they should watch a less commercialized film, right? Not really my business but really? A teen flick film for a date is ugh. What is happening to the world?

I don’t know how honest I should be without generalizing how all of us saw the film because I may see it differently from how Sheryl, Carry and Ingrid saw it. The good thing is we all agree on numerous things regarding the film:

1. We are too old for this sh*t. Watching Disney and Pixar films are different. A romcom starring teenagers made for teenagers? No. We heard that they changed most of the plot’s film to accommodate all ages. They did succeed in doing that but there are elements in the film that we don’t like. The bottom-line is we are not its target audience.
2. That is so not 1990’s. Aside from Ingrid, we all can say that we are ‘90s kids. The way they depict how 1990’s look is very different from what we grew up in. The vibrant colors and street-like outfits are all so 1980s. I’ll take into consideration that it was 1994 and I’m only 7 years old then. However, I still have my old pictures and early 1990s isn’t like that.
3. Why do the outfits have to be color coordinated? We noticed in some scenes that the characters were wearing the same shirt color or design or whatever. It doesn’t look cute. Then again, the target audience is teenagers and they go gaga over couple’s matching shirts these days.
4. Is the setting college or high school? I know that the novel’s setting is high school though I’m not sure if it was the same in the movie. The film’s setting feels like college that has the element of a private high school. It wasn’t clarified. It also has the Meteor Garden/Boys over Flowers vibe which reminds me that the WP version of SDtG is originally a fan fiction of Asian dramas.
5. We are never going to see a collegiate (or high school) basketball game the same ever oagain. OMG. The “Sexy Love” cheering kills it. We were all flabbergasted with how ugly that scene was. If only you guys could see our faces when that scene was shown. It’s a jaw-dropping moment, I swear. We wanted to storm out of the cinema that very minute. What the hell are we watching?
6. It’s a star studded film. Starting of with Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta. We have cameo appearances of Joross Gamboa, Rio Locsin, Niño Mulach, Raver Cruz, Yayo Aguila, Ian Veneracion and some I don’t even know the names but are familiar to me.
7. Kathryn Bernado is fine but isn’t the best. She’s good. Yes, you are hearing a “but” after that. She started out her present time role strongly that we are all expecting her performance would escalate as the movie moves along but that didn’t happen. We felt like she gave all her best at the beginning and we feel that her performance declines as the movie progresses or it kind of felt the same through out.
8. Focus on Daniel Padilla’s face, not his body. I can’t remember if he was topless in the boxer shorts scene. He has the face, no wonder kids go crazy over him, but he doesn’t have the body. Yet.
9. Star Cinema bought the book’s title, not the story. I thank the writing team in changing the movie’s plot and how it ended. It still has some of the book’s main plot, character’s name and important conflict but the movie as a whole is a different story from the novel.
10. The Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta tandem is a timeless love team. Age doesn’t change how good these actors are. Everything pales into comparison when their last scene was shown. We can fairly say that they were the highlight of the film. Richard and Dawn’s end scene was a tear jerker; you’ll probably like the movie just because of them. Too bad it is not enough for the Portmanteau Girls.

Memorable Remarks and Portmanteau’s Ratings:

        

Group Picture:

We tried taking a picture with the movie’s poster but, we. just. can’t. So we ended up having a picture with a different Star Cinema movie.

Portmanteau Stamp:

Feature:

Portmanteau’s (mis)Adventures” (1)
A semi-regular meme of the things Portmanteau did (adventure or not) or any activity we had together that is worth mentioning.

*****
Blurb, Movie Trailer & Movie Poster: Star Cinema