American Adobo (2001)

Simply A Masterpiece

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

American Adobo is a serviceable attempt at creating an insightful food- themed film in the tradition of Eat Drink Man Woman and other successful Asian food movies.The movie is a comedy, but no Filipino flick is complete without anyone shedding a tear or going hysterical. So expect hefty servings of good old Pinoy-style melodrama.Overall, American Adobo is not without its flaws. But it definitely has a lot of heart.Read more here: https://manilafoodcrawl.com/2017/01/19/pinoy-food- movie-of-the-week-american-adobo-2001/

if this was written by Richard Curtis ( four weddings and a funeral. Notting Hill ), it might made a better film. Although most of the conversations were made round the table, they might have been eating fish and chips. If your a Filipino watching the film, you have an idea what food would be served, but what about us non Filipino?.The film does not show the Filipino in a good light. The single man treats women like dirt ( is that why most Filipino women leave their country to become domestic helpers ) The good looking woman chooses a man, who is not in the same league as her. The married man works and his children are dreadful and his wife is a cow (reminds us that somethings don't change ). The gay and the virgin are the only normal people??? Is that representative of the Filipino abroad? Anyway the acting was good, and with a little more thought to the script, the film could have been more than average.

Made me embarrassed to be Filipino. Oversentimental, disconnected, melodramatic drivel that plays on what some people think of as Filipino stereotypes, perpetuates them, and then attempts to put them together in one group setting. The acting is bad, the writing is bad -so do yourself a favor and save your rental fees.

SPOILER AHEAD----------SPOILER AHEAD-------SPOILER AHEAD-I have classified this into 3 categories: BAD, BAD, acting by the ensemble cast, flat dialogue by Vincent R. Nebrida or the godawful direction by Laurice Guillen. This movie is a very poor copycat of their Asian counterpart, Man-Woman-Eat-Drink, but this one stinks-BIG TIME! Starts with a woman who cooks (adobo - a Filipino dish) and looks out the window, while she narrates the opening spiel of the movie -- all to the tune of some funny yet wanting to sound mystifying music that continues throughout the movie-it was irritating!"American Adobo" is a story about five Filipino best friends as they look for love in New York City. One character is gay (Davao), another is a soon to be old-mail (Picache-the only saving grace of this movie), the third one is a good-looking but shallow womanizer (Montalban), the fourth is an overacting socialite who doesn't know what the meaning of self worth (Bonnevie-too shallow acting, more shrills, shouts, very bad acting), the 5th one is an unhappily married guy (DeLeon). To top the already boring & too much hyped characterization, however dense, don't be surprised when the gay character tearfully reveals that he's been in love with the unhappily married guy for the longest time. Near the end of the film, the cook accidentally sets her apartment on fire and then falls in love with the firemen who saves her, the gay man accidentally mixes up letters to his lover and mother, thus he has to fly back to the Philippines to retrieve the letter containing sexy pics of him and his lover and before his mother finds out - WHEW!!! That is just to name the many senseless scenes in this movie. And why was the movie named American Adobo? If it is a metaphor of sorts, then it failed miserably to put forth the message it wants to convey.Watching this movie makes you want to drink a whole bottle of Maalox for your upset stomach after tasting that concoction named adobo.