As romantic as it gets

After playing support to Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin in the blockbuster hit Let the Love Begin, StarStruck winners Mark Herras and Jennylyn Mercado now star in their own movie, Say That You Love Me, which opened in Metro Manila theaters the other week.

Directed by Mac Alejandre (who also did the well-crafted Let the Love Begin), Say That You Love Me casts Mark and Jennylyn as youngsters whose first meeting is disastrous: Mark’s van accidentally collides with Jenny’s scooter and the poor girls gets injured in the process.

To make up for what happened, Mark allows himself to be at Jennylyn’s every beck and call – driving for her, accompanying her everywhere and just being of service to her at all hours of the day.

Their being together all the time eventually makes them fall in love with each other. But before they could make the relationship official, Jennylyn’s old flame, Jake Cuenca, reappears in her life and this sets off a lot of complications in this teen romance.

The film obviously capitalizes on the real-life romance of Mark and Jennylyn and succeeds in this department because there are a lot of romantic moments that would make many young hearts in the audience swoon over this love team.

It is just unfortunate that the film could have used a little more layering in its story. The way it is presented, it would seem like Mark has no life of his own and it is just perfectly fine for him to be following Jennylyn anywhere she goes.

Unlike in Let The Love Begin, where Richard Gutierrez’ character is a working student who takes care of his ailing grandmother (Gloria Romero), Mark and Jennylyn play roles that are less sympathetic in Say That You Love Me.

But aside from what I see as a deficiency in the story, Say That You Love Me is perfectly entertaining primarily because it is an eye candy from start to finish and doesn’t pretend to be anything else but a fun film for fans of the StarStruck winners.

The movie also succeeds as entertainment fare because of the very energetic performances of Mark Herras and Jennylyn Mercado. Although clearly a product of television, Mark and Jennylyn do very well as big screen performers. Mark has good comedic timing and Jennylyn excels in her dramatic moments. I predict that given more challenging roles, she can be honed into a drama queen like Maricel Soriano and other top caliber dramatic actresses in local cinema.

Joel Torre, Jean Garcia and Tuesday Vargas (as always) also stand out in their secondary roles and their performances make the film even more engaging to watch.

I do not know about more mature audiences, but Say That You Love Me should be a hit and enjoyable movie for young viewers.

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Another love story playing in local theaters in the Hollywood movie A Lot Like Love.

Starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet this film spans many years, American cities, fashion trends, hairstyles and modes of communication (from landline to cell phones). It is also a love story where the principal characters have casual sex first before romance begins. (No, the leading lady is not a prostitute here, but a free spirit who eventually finds direction in life).

As a romantic comedy, A Lot Like Love is as romantic as it can get, but not necessarily as funny. Oh, you get a few laughs here and there, but that’s it basically.

But one thing I can say about this movie is that the lead characters can get endearing as the movie progresses. Amanda Peet, for example, is a bit obnoxious in the beginning, but in time you also begin to feel for her and emphatize with her every situation.

The film, however, doesn’t bother really much with the various intricacies of life that deeply – which should sit well with viewers who just want to while away their time.

Just like Say That You Love Me, A Lot Like Love doesn’t pretend to be anything else, but a fun film that doesn’t require intellectual stimulation from its target audience.