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Film Review: My Househusband: Ikaw Na!

MANILA, Philippines - OctoArts’ Metro Manila Film Festival entry, the Jose Javier Reyes-megged My Househusband: Ikaw Na!, is both a concise and comedic look at today’s middle-class, suburban family, attempting to live its dream. As with American films and television series that have utilized family in suburbia as their main topic, the film revolves around worrying about jobs, income and expenses (the role of provider), the neighbors, the community life, the kids in school and PTC’s, and ultimately, where the lines of the “big” family, life and love intersect. I say “big” family because it is very Filipino for family to extend and play such a major role in our lives, and this is one juncture where Househusband’s story becomes very Filipino.

Real-life husband and wife Ryan Agoncillo and Judy Ann Santos are Rod and Mia, who are blessed with two children of school age. Rod is a bank branch manager, while Mia adds to the family income by working part-time with an insurance company. Neighbor Aida (Eugene Domingo) has a son who is a classmate of Rod and Mia’s child, but is shunned by most people in their community as she’s a single mother living in a house paid for by her married sugar daddy.

Conflict arises when Rod’s bank is part of a takeover, and to keep his pride intact, he refuses the offer to be a provincial manager. He has problems seeking employment elsewhere, and when he belatedly reveals this to Mia, she in turn, goes full-time with the insurance company, hiding this initially from Rod, who has been relegated to househusband status, much to his chagrin.

As one can glean, there is no life-threatening episode (except for a suicide attempt mined for laughs), sordid adultery or murder anywhere on the film’s horizon. And cognizant of this, the screenplay adroitly jumps from serious, revelatory observations about marriage and family, to utilizing these same situations to produce comedy. This then seems to be the film’s true aim, to make us laugh about ourselves, while nodding our heads in recognition of how cherished and long-held stereotypes often blind us to making better accounts of ourselves.

Inevitably, it’s the comedy and laughter that leaves the lasting impression, and for this we can once again point to Eugene as the culprit! She is our nightmare neighbor, mugs to the audience, proves she has a heart of gold, converts Rod to teleseryes while he’s in his househusband phase and generally, lights up the screen with her scenes. We anticipate and she delivers. It’s great to have Judy Ann back on the big screen, and her “confrontation” scenes with Ryan had the audience in their collective laps. They both get their “moments,” and it’s nice to have a screenplay that doesn’t play favorites, showing how everyone is human and fallible.