Go ahead, have your Do Bidoo Bidoo night

MANILA, Philippines - Better late than never.

After presumably half of the world did, I finally got the time to watch Unitel Pictures’ I Do Bidoo Bidoo Monday night at the nearby SM Cinema with my officemates Jerry Donato, Ver Paulino and Patricia Esteves.

I felt exactly what its director, Chris Martinez, guaranteed in his text message reminding me “to watch it already” that, yes, it would make me feel good. It did the same to Patricia who, like me, has just gone through “something sad” in her family.

At least for two hours inside the darkened theater, we got that light “Bidoo Bidoo” feeling and we came out of SM Cinema resting assured that something’s right with the world, after all, thanks to the songs of The APO that inspired the movie.

I love the creative way Chris, who also wrote the story, has woven the four love stories around the APO songs, every one of which, as I’ve been saying, I know by heart. One story is about the middle-class character of Sam Concepcion who gets the upper-class character of Tippy Dos Santos pregnant. Two: That of Zsa Zsa Padilla and Gary Valenciano characters, parents of Tippy, whose bitter-sweet romance is poignantly told in the song Tuyo Nang Damdamin. Three: That of Eugene Domingo and Ogie Alcasid as Sam’s parents confronted with the frightening reality of having a hard-to-reach (mahirap abutin) family as future in-laws.

I can’t reveal the fourth love story without spoiling the fun for those who have yet to watch the movie still showing in several theaters (by all means, catch it or, I daresay, you lose one-third of your life!). Thank heavens for friends who didn’t tell me about it and let me have fun finding it out for myself. It’s a hilarious love story with a sad-happy ending, I assure you, partly told in the song Kaibigan.

It’s a given that Eugene, Ogie, Zsa Zsa and Gary would give their usual best. They were perfect choices for the roles that require them to sing (I mean really sing, without a “ghost” behind them). Frenchie Dy and Sweet Plantado (of The CompanY) are delightful as Eugene’s friends and catering partners, especially when they launch into a heart-warming rendition of Awit Ng Barkada.

Tippy Dos Santos with her STAGES family including Carlo Orosa (back row, second from left), Audie Gemora (fourth from right), Marco Mañalac (rightmost), I Do Bidoo Bidoo leading man Sam Concepcion (to Tippy’s left), and Christian Bautista and Carla Dunareanu (can you spot them?), during her debut last Aug. 25.

What’s as refreshing as roses bathed in morning dew and as sweet as ice-cream on a cone is the team-up of Sam and Tippy, both theater-honed and both STAGES talents, who handily capture our hearts with their touching Romeo & Juliet kind of romance. When they end up happily ever after (I won’t tell you how), you want to applaud and give them a tight hug.

The big revelation is Neil Coleta in his movie debut, after those Nestea commercials, one Kapuso soap and one Kapamilya teleserye. I heard that at first Neil was reluctant and almost turned down the role and he would have regretted all his life if he did. I’m sure Neil has fun watching himself dance (he thought he couldn’t) and sing (he also thought he couldn’t) and flesh out his character with such pathos (especially in his rain-soaked scene, shot in that tunnel in Intramuros, with a drunken Sam) that you want to give him more than just a dozen pats on the back.

In one scene, Tippy’s snooty grandpa (played by Jaime Fabregas) taunts Ogie, the “lowly” songwriter, how Ogie’s son Sam will sustain a family, by asking him, “Ano ang ipapakain ng anak mo sa apo ko, nota?” The audience laughs. I wonder, do they get the (double-entendre?) joke?

Don’t blink (or go to the restroom) or you will miss the love scene between Eugene and Ogie. I heard that at the movie’s premiere Ogie’s wife Regine Velasquez laughed hard at Ogie in his briefs (and Eugene in her lola panties). Did she know the whole truth and nothing but that the audience didn’t?

Anyway, thank you Chris and Tony Gloria (Unitel boss) for coming up with a movie that brings so much happiness. Give us more of the same, please!

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