A Movie Review: Beauty and the Bestie (2015)

To be fair, since I’m a Nadine Lustre fan and I understand that she’s a part of this movie, I’ll have two separate lists for this review. First one would be the 5 Best Parts and the 5 Worst Parts. I don’t want to be biased. If you’re also a fan, or of Jadine, you might agree with the positive review but would question me with the negative aspect, which is fine… though I hope that you will respect my opinion as much as I respect yours. So, anyways, without further ado, here we go:

5 Best Parts

·         Loads, lots of Laughter – My 54-year-old Mom was happy. My 10-year-old brother and 22-year-old sister enjoyed it even though they are not necessarily a fan of Vice Ganda or Coco Martin or Nadine Lustre or James Reid, which speaks so much. Personally, I would watch it over and over again and the effect would still be the same. This is that kind of a movie. I don’t think I’d get tired. I remember being in the cinema and I would distinctly hear a chorus of laughter. I think it’s one of those moments when Filipinos from various walks of life could agree with. That’s really refreshing to experience knowing how chaotic it is in our country and conflict more often than not arises with many issues that has to be addressed. By saying that, it’s good to watch something this funny, and in a way, leave our worries behind for at least a few hours.

·         Action sequences/Special-Visual Effects – To be honest, I watch Hollywood movies more times than local ones. I have to be frank and say that visual and special effects in our local TV shows and movies have a LONG long way to go to even come close with the foreign ones. If I saw these effects locally, it looks unrealistic, it’s obviously generic. I have to admit though that with Beauty and the Bestie, it was more than what I expected. I’m glad that they stepped it up a bit. The good effects complemented the action sequences, which is why they had a fine end product. In addition, action is indeed Coco’s forte other than drama.

·         Vice and Nadine’s interactions – As a Nadine supporter, admittedly, I was much more looking forward to her interaction with Vice in the movie than with James’ because I already know how Nadine and James are on-screen. I was excited when I first learned that their characters are siblings. After the first time I have seen the movie, Nadz scenes with Vice were the ones that I could vividly remember. We all know that comedy is Vice’s forte, on the other hand, Nadz got her break for portraying the ever bubbly Eya in Diary ng Panget…  more than anything, I really like their chemistry together because it gets super funny regardless of lines. If we are talking about comedy, these two will undeniably pull it off.

·         Family value – IMO, stories without morals or lessons are useless and not worth it. There’s no sense watching a movie if it will not impart values to the viewers. So, I applaud this movie that it didn’t compromise that. I think we could be empathetic with the family plot of BATB. I especially feel for the line of Vice’s character where he said that he can’t die yet because he was worried with what would happen to his family in case that happens… that no one would take care of them. It’s very human to know about SELF-SACRIFICE. This is very important for the viewers to know especially since we are living in such a society where selfishness is evident.

·         Acting – Vice did what he does best. It’s also visible that he worked harder in BATB than his other movies. You could really see it and I guess part of that determination is the competition that was present. IMO, he really does not have anything to prove. I am not his fan but I will say that he’s still one of the best, if not the best, right now in the comedy genre. He’s a total performer too, so, he is also one of the most talented. He has broken local movie records. You gotta respect it and the things he has achieved. You certainly cannot take them away from his profile. With Coco Martin, again, I am not his fan but I know how good he is as an actor. There’s no doubt that he’s one of the best actors in both drama and action. He also has awards and other recognitions to prove that. In BATB though, I think he has a shot in comedy. I will not be surprise if the time comes when he would be successful in portraying comedic roles in case he decides to pursue that path. With Nadine, if there’s a genre she does best in acting, it is comedy… more than romance. Why? Because she does it SO naturally… AND she doesn’t need James and their chemistry to pull it off, which is what I prefer more. She really pulls it off like a flick of the hand. A critic actually compared her to Maricel Soriano. I had watched several of Maricel’s old movies. She was sort of the romantic-comedy princess of her time. So, Nadz’ name being mentioned alongside hers is a compliment. This has to prove something, right? Well, I can feel secure for Nadz’ solo career in the future. I wouldn’t worry about that because she could still work her way through it even without her loveteam with James. With her personality, work ethic, character, plus being legit multi-talented, she will last long. I would also like to praise the performance of Marco Masa. I was not an avid viewer of Nathaniel but I knew this child is really good. And lastly, MC and Lassy. They were freaking hilarious too.

5 Worst Parts:

·         The Abi-Tristan subplot isn’t really necessary to the whole story – BATB can stand on its own. The main plot wouldn’t be compromised even if the Abi-Tristan subplot wasn’t there at all. Of course, I understand that they needed to step up their game a bit in order to dominate the box office which is why they included these two characters. BUT like what they said during the press conference, Abi and Tristan were not in the original script and they just had to INSERT Nadine and James in the movie (with the Management’s order). Thus, they had to write a subplot for the two new characters. We all KNOW why they did that. Again, bias aside, it was evident in the phase of the movie how “out-of-place” their subplot is. Though they indeed serve as the ‘romance’, it was so uncalled for. I’m not the only one who says so. Casual viewers and fans alike noticed it too… well UNLESS if you are just too FANTARD enough to admit it. Trust me, if you were too caught up with Nadine and James’ on-screen chemistry, you would be too blind to see. It’s a good thing then that we have constructive criticisms.

·         That one not-too-obvious advertisement placement of a popular Filipino fast-food brand – This is one of the lowest points of BATB. Any ad-placement in a movie compromises its QUALITY regardless of how often it was shown throughout. It’s like this is the first item in your checklist when you critique a movie. I was definitely ‘turned-off’ just because of this. BUT I have to admire the subtlety when they executed it because the worst movies would blatantly advertise brands. If they had not done it, BATB would have hit the roof. Since they did, that’s minus one point.

·         I don’t get the need of two child actors when Marco Masa can actually handle it well by himself – Do I still need to elaborate why? Marco Masa had been trained well in acting through Nathaniel. The other child actor is way behind in that sense. When he says something, it gets a little awkward. With all due respect to Mr. Niño Muhlach and his son, he seemed left out. BUT he has potential. He just needs to hone it more.

·         Some of the jokes were generic – I don’t like it, and certainly I don’t find it funny, to joke about someone else’s appearance, or lack thereof. Making fun of someone’s ugliness doesn’t necessarily make you beautiful. Laughing at someone’s flaw doesn’t necessarily make you perfect. Doing these things doesn’t necessarily make you any better of a person. If anything, if you treat someone this way, it actually makes you ‘ugly’. It is indeed sad to see how often these happen. We are living in a world that celebrates and tolerates all of these. In fact, it has become the norm. I wonder if I could watch a FUNNY movie that is not ‘generic’.

·         None – Guess I only have four items in this list, which is a good thing, right?!

There you go. I have laid out my review of the movie. We could always agree to disagree. I’d rate BATB: 8/10.