The Panti Sisters

When I stumbled upon the 2019 Filipino comedy titled "The Panti Sisters" on Netflix, of course I opted to watch it. I mean, with a title such as that, and with it being a gay-themed comedy, I figured that there would be a chance that writer Ivan Andrew Payawal would deliver something enjoyable here.

The storyline in "The Panti Sisters" was actually fair enough, but was somehow lacking an ingredient to make it outstanding. Now, I am not saying that it was not an enjoyable movie, because it certainly was entertaining enough for what it turned out to be, but I had just hoped for more laughs and comedy in general. But writer Ivan Andrew Payawal and director Jun Lana just didn't deliver on what I had hoped for.

The acting performances in "The Panti Sisters" were good, and especially actor Martin Del Rosario stood out in the movie with his performance.

The transformation of actress Carmi Martin into a plastic surgery recipient looks rather realistic, although it was grostesque and monstrous at the same time. But it was great, because it definitely caught the trend of what many plastic surgery recipients end up looking like; being freaks of surgically enhanced nature.

Watchable for what it was, I doubt that I will ever return to watch "The Panti Sisters" a second time, though.

My rating of director Jun Lana's 2019 comedy "The Panti Sisters" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I've watched a dozen of LGBTQIA+ movies but the story and the plot twists of this movie were outstanding. The story was a remarkable representation of generation gap and their beliefs.

HOWEVER, the cast was terrible, the dialogues felt stale, and the humor was horrible. This story had so much potential but it was a waste being executed so terribly. I hope there's a remake of this movie in the future with better direction and I can feel it in my gut that'd it'd be a hit.

Very nicee movieee ilove it. I want to recommend the director of this movie he/she is very nice itcomes in twist of movie. Very nice very funny

I was excited to see this offering on Netflix thinking that it could potentially be the Philippines' answer to the drag queen movie genre of the past such as "to Wong Foo" and "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". Both of these movies, while not considered the greatest films ever made, excelled in story-telling, were well-acted, entertaining and funny, yet explored the more complex and deeper sides of the drag queen subculture. Sure, some of the plot twists were bizarre but yet they did not take away from the realism and authenticity in the characters being played.

The Panti Sisters actually started out with a great background plot. Three flamboyantly gay sons with a penchant for wearing make up and gender-bending outfits were called upon by their insanely-rich ailing father in his mansion. The challenge they were given was to produce an heir in exchange for their inheritance. The rest of the movie follows multiple plot twists by the three sons as they attempt and commit failures in meeting the challenge.

Unfortunately, the movie relied too much on gay, lesbian, and "gay ally" stereotypes for cheap laughs at the expense of elevating the background story to a deeper understanding and acceptance of the realities of openly flamboyant gay men in the Philippines beyond that of traveling circus clowns and court jesters. All it did is to solidify the all too common "gay character" in Philippine cinema (typically played by straight actors) as caricatures for comic relief lacking in substance or character development enough to make them uninteresting.

The three main actors could definitely act, there's no question about that. To their detriment, the scenes they were asked to portray did not seem genuinely real-life scenarios and were ingeniously exaggerated to create hilarity for the sake of being outrageous. It made the characters one dimensional including the ones in the supporting roles who mostly seemed capable of doing better acting. It left an unsatisfying void of a movie that can surely make an audience laugh out loud yet fail to leave a lasting impression.

The performances was overdone and corny. Nothing special about this film in a technical point of view.