Apollo (Pol) and Irene were the best, sweetest couple around, but fate had them drift apart. When Pol stumbled upon her again, he was surprised that Irene could not remember him; she then explains that she had amnesia. Pol is now bent to make Irene fall in love with him again. From the simple synopsis the movie presents via its trailers, this movie had many of my friends guessing that this is a rip-off of (the Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore movie) "50 First Dates" or the more cerebral (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet film) "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". No. This is not a rip-off of those movies. Sure, it may have some aspects of this movie here and that movie there, but not enough to constitute a blatant rip-off like some Tagalog mainstream films do. This is actually not much of a surprise because this movie was directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina. And I have watched quite a number of his movies to say that this is one of those rare Tagalog mainstream directors who exercise quite a degree of originality, and such a large dose of respectable quality in her movies; the kind that is capable of commercial success and an excellence that ensures her film's timelessness. "Mabenta sa Masa; pero hinde Baduy" The script is smartly written; rich with clever lines and dynamite wit. This is the better comedy than what other local comedies claim as funny. The two main characters have the habit of throwing pa-cute, pa-sweet, funny little lines which are charming enough that you'd wanna memorize one or two of those little lines they have. These are the moments that I consider as intentionally corny; yet ticklingly charming.
The film shines as a romantic movie. Molina has perfected the genre that she uniformly does, but then again, she has perfected this even long before this movie (Maybe Molina has to experiment in action or sci-fi. On second thought, no she doesn't; I love her for what she already does). Just the mere idea that Molina's skill in creating romantic movies is already in such a godlike degree, is enough for anybody to just trust this movie and leave all skepticism.
Just as the movie wants you to fall in love with both characters, I found myself fixated and in love with Toni Gonzaga too. I am not usually a fan of Toni Gonzaga, her TV game show charisma is ignorable to me. But her on screen acting presence in this movie drives me back to adoring her. Not only is she damn cute with those chinky funny eyes and cute bunny smile, her character's personality complements that as well, with a fun-lovingness and childlike giddiness. Speaking of things that are really nice to watch, Beatriz Saw was also fun to watch, she has that "the main girl's friend" chemistry perfectly executed; and she's also such a a hottie. (yum!) John Lloyd Cruz is also great as the main character. He is the quintessential male bida; the kind of everyman that every guy can easily identify with because he is so human, so honest, so true, and so candid. Unlike other typical male protagonists in mainstream tagalong cinema, he is the only one who does real acting and never seems to consciously or ridiculously make an effort to make "pa-cute" antics. Whenever he does indeed try to do pa-cute antics, he does it IN CHARACTER—and UNTO THE OTHER CHARACTER he's addressing; he does not do it to the audience in a sort of toothpaste commercial sort of way.
The chemistry between John Lloyd and Toni blend perfectly. Both characters have a very playful and witty sense of humor that makes for a great dramatic, comedic, and romantic interplay between the two.
And then there's the other characters. Usually, when mainstream tagalog movies put in a group of good-looking male supporting characters acting as barkada in their movies they tend to be either pa-cute or corny. In this movie, Molina throws in a barkada that actually acts like a barkada; they goof off, they're ridiculous, and they act like they really care for their buddy. Where these chick-magnet clowns are usually annoying in other movies or in TV, this time, the supporting actors actually act like a typical barkada; perhaps it is again Molina's directorial eye that keeps his actors flawlessly act IN CHARACTER.
The movie is near perfect; but I must confess that it kinda took me down at the near end of the movie when the characters react to a supposed problem, when there should not be any problem at all anyway. It's as if the character took the most ignorable thing and create a problem out of that; it was an obvious ploy just to make a tension at the near end, to give way to the obligatory climax. Ultimately, though, it is not such a big deal because this little issue is still arguable anyway. Another thing that (well not exactly bothered) bothered me was how John Lloyd's character (Apollo) was able to pay for all the elaborate "romantic stuff" that he does in the movie. Is this guy Bruce Wayne, or what? But again, these are all minor things that does do much to shake the film's near flawlessness.
This movie is very much worth full price. A perfect date movie at the tail end of November. If romantic movies is your cup of tea, this movie is a definite must-see. MY AMNESIA GIRL is hands down, the most romantic movie I've seen this year. And that's counting the international movies.
