Ano Bang Meron Ka? (2001)

Strong and Moving!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

"Ano bang meron ka?" received quite some press for its P40 million budget and the possible off-screen romance between its two stars. I am not up to date about their love status, but in the movie, Joyce Jimenez and Diether Ocampo sure show some nice chemistry."Ano bang meron ka?" seems to inspired by the J.Lo/McConaughey film "The Wedding Planer" and stars Jimenez as columnist and event organizer Carol. She's a sexy, modern woman and gets every man she wants. She's currently engaged, but already looking for another guy. She finds one on the beach: the sympathetic, handsome Jason (Diether Ocampo). He has a girlfriend but is willing to have a one night stand with Carol. After that, they can't get each other out of their heads ...So much, so conventional. Actually, it doesn't get any more sophisticated. It stays within the boundaries of a conventional love story. That isn't so bad - but if it's originality you're after, you're wrong here. The director seems to stay true to the screenwriter's conventionalism since his style is also rather ordinary.It's the actors who make it worth seeing. As I've said, the leads have chemistry. Also, they both look very cute. An ideal start for such a movie. Then there's Jason's cousin and it was relieving to see that she was played by a "regular woman". Watching a movie from the Philippines, one always wants to move there right away because all the women (and men btw) seem very attractive. So it's refreshing to see a major role played by a well rounded woman - and not just for comic relief. This relief is provided by a gay sidekick. I have criticized the not-so-hilarious gay sidekicks in Thai and Filipino movies before so I won't dive into that again. But they're handled just a little too cheap. Why not show an interesting gay character for once?And finally, there's the little girl. The cousin's daughter. I was terrified when I found out that she has cancer. All warning lights went red because a cancer-ridden child is probably one of the worst offenders when it comes to cheap movie drama. But the little actress, Isabella De Leon, did an extremely charming job and her role was well written. A pleasant little surprise.To sum it up: If you're after some romantic fluff and don't mind a pedestrian style and a conventional story, "Ano bang meron ka?" might be a nice time waster for you. Not a good film by a far stretch, but a solid rating of5/10