Warning: this review gets a little political in some parts so proceed with caution:
The Panti Sisters follow the story of three sisters gone their separate ways and are called back upon by their father whose dying wish is for them to produce him an heir and whoever succeeds in return will inherit all his riches. While it is entertaining, it's a bit painful to watch them go through hoops in order to get the reward (let's call it as it is) and in a way their father's love and approval that they've been yearning for all their lives. So there's a feeling of we're laughing at them rather than with them which did not happen in Die and Born Beautiful movies. But this can still be spun positively, the movie being brave enough to take on the patriarchy and showing that even if you're already set in your ways, you can still change and be a more understanding, ergo better member of society. Notice I said UNDERSTANDING and not TOLERATING.
Paolo Ballesteros was dependable as per usual, Christian Bables was great and it's a good thing his management allowed him to work on a role similar to Die B, reason why he skipped taking on Born B which eventually led to Martin Del Rosario taking over for him. Martin was enjoyable here and seems to be the most popular among the three at least based on reactions from social media. In a way he deserved the Best Actor trophy at the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino film festival, because at the very least he was able to separate his Born B and Panti S roles and I would like to think this is a recognition more on his work on the former than the latter. The rest of the cast bannered by John Arcilla and Joross Gamboa were effective, a testament to Panti S bagging the PPP's Audience Choice Award.
If your first instinct is to wonder if this movie is connected to Die/Born Beautiful movies, it's perfectly okay because all movies were from the same creators but distributed separately: Die B - Regal Films, Born B - Cignal Entertainment, Panti S - ABS CBN films, that's why they look and feel similar but does not seem interconnected (as we know so far). Thanks to the demand for content with different viewing platforms coming out of the woodwork, movies such as these three that would normally be rejected outright due to it's theme are starting to see the light of day. So maybe on that note, do not mistake this country is now open to treating the LGBTQIA + community as equals (refer to the Restroom brouhaha a few weeks ago and the surprising Anti Sogie bill sentiments that came from those you considered as friends), but rather as entertainment fodder for consumption when you need a quick laugh or two. Maybe that's the problem, the demand was high and deadline was tight (Die B was released Dec 2016, Born B came out 3 yrs after, Panti S followed just 8 months after) that's why when compared to the first two, Panti S struggles a little to hold a candle. Looking at their current IMDB ratings, Die B is at 7.8, Born B is at 7.8 and Panti S is only at 6.5. Just the same, Panti S is still worth your time, this trio is better than the combined output of Vic, Bong and Vice.
