TEN17 Productions MMFF 2018 entry Mary, Marry Me proves that family bond wins over selfish interests.
The story revolves around two sisters Mary Jane (Toni Gonzaga) and Mary Anne ( Alex Gonzaga) and their sibling bond and love over Pete ( Sam Milby).
Mary Anne comes home in the Philippines with her fiance Pete. Mary Jane is ecstatic about her sister's homecoming and upcoming wedding. Mary Jane agrees to be the wedding planner and encounters an emotional roller-coaster journey in its course.
Strengths:
The story is value driven. Its core is reflective of how Filipino puts family bond as an integral part of our culture and society. The main characters are relatable as they depict genuine emotions on sisterhood or even sibling rivalry. The movie also teaches forgiveness, unconditional love, sacrifice, and unending support.
The comedy antics of Alex Gonzaga, Melai Cantiveros, Bayani Agbayani and Moi Bien is commendable. Their wacky punchlines are undoubtedly unequaled. Moviegoers will surely have a good laugh watching this movie.
Acting wise, Toni and Alex's portrayal as sisters is effortless. You can see that they are very comfortable with each other.
The music of the film is suave and not overrated. The scene where Mary Anne and Pete sang "You are the one" ( theme song of a Toni-Sam movie ) will surely make the viewers romantically excited.
Newbie film director RC delos Reyes shows a great promise in romcom genre. Given more romcom projects, I am confident that he'll master the formulaic taste of Pinoy moviegoers.
Opportunities:
While Sam Milby looks good on screen with Toni and Alex, I did not see anything new in his portrayal as FilAm beau of Mary Anne and Mary Jane. I think Sam is typecasted with this kind of role. We can't blame the movie producers/directors to cast him in this kind of role knowing his limitation to speak Filipino.
The Romcom flavor of the film lacks more push. A possible reason is that Star Cinema is not the producer of the movie. As we all know, Star Cinema is known for several Toni-Sam blockbuster rom-com flicks.
I also find it odd that the film failed to establish why Mary Jane (Toni's character) was left alone in the Philippines as a teener and how she realistically survived. Also, I wonder why it was only Mary Anne (Alex's character) who was taken by a relative to go to USA.
Some of the locations used in the movie seemed to be simplistic possibly because the movie is not produced by a major studio and the Gonzagas/Soriano would want to be cost-efficient.
Overall, I can say Mary Marry Me is entertaining and heartwarming. It's best to see the film with your siblings so you can appreciate them more. As the cliche says, Family is Love.
My Rating: 7/10
image courtesy of TEN17 Productions.
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