Bride For Rent seems like an interesting idea: conspiring a fake marriage and relationship between the two leads. It introduces the romp in a naturally fun way. The film works when it gets things silly, but predictably it ends up following the same mold of any generic romantic film. The concept also has the capability of building thematic drama within the structure. It might have provided a few surprises, but then it turns out to be a sudden distraction that sometimes forgets the comedy. Solid performances thankfully helped spicing things up and in which it is mildly entertaining. What the film just generally needs is to be less mediocre at telling the story.
The film actually has a great potential at the first half. It may not be as tricky as the plot needs, but it has a likable personality and sense of playfulness that may bring a little distinction to this ultimately stale genre. Of course, it always have to send some message beneath/ the absurdities, while that's good, it becomes awkward when it takes them too seriously. There is a sudden talk about honest marriage and stuff, but it doesn't help the film being compelling. It rather just stretches the runtime and halts whatever the intrigue the film sets up at the beginning. And obviously, you don't have to think twice what happens in the end. The problem is not that it's a cliché, but because it doesn't try to be clever and instead automatically jumps to a good conclusion.
However it doesn't fail making its characters memorable, probably because they're handled by great performers. Kim Chiu, as we already know, works best at comedies. She has the energy, the heart, and (alright, I'll say it) the cuteness that the role suggests. Xian Lim also gives an effective personality to his character. And every scene with Pilita Corales is always delightful. The filmmaking looks good enough, the colorful cinematography neatly fits to its quirky nature.
Bride For Rent is nothing more than a movie with two kinds of qualities: one is an ultimately likable comedy that creates a fun world of people who are crazy enough to fool around, and the other is a clunky drama about relationships. Its set of talents makes it reasonably entertaining while it also falls short of whatever the story deserves. The overall film is neither bad nor good. More improvement (and real humor) to the second-half would be nice to justify this concept, because it becomes nonexistent when it begins talking about the themes that doesn't even sound sincere for the plot.
The film actually has a great potential at the first half. It may not be as tricky as the plot needs, but it has a likable personality and sense of playfulness that may bring a little distinction to this ultimately stale genre. Of course, it always have to send some message beneath/ the absurdities, while that's good, it becomes awkward when it takes them too seriously. There is a sudden talk about honest marriage and stuff, but it doesn't help the film being compelling. It rather just stretches the runtime and halts whatever the intrigue the film sets up at the beginning. And obviously, you don't have to think twice what happens in the end. The problem is not that it's a cliché, but because it doesn't try to be clever and instead automatically jumps to a good conclusion.
However it doesn't fail making its characters memorable, probably because they're handled by great performers. Kim Chiu, as we already know, works best at comedies. She has the energy, the heart, and (alright, I'll say it) the cuteness that the role suggests. Xian Lim also gives an effective personality to his character. And every scene with Pilita Corales is always delightful. The filmmaking looks good enough, the colorful cinematography neatly fits to its quirky nature.
Bride For Rent is nothing more than a movie with two kinds of qualities: one is an ultimately likable comedy that creates a fun world of people who are crazy enough to fool around, and the other is a clunky drama about relationships. Its set of talents makes it reasonably entertaining while it also falls short of whatever the story deserves. The overall film is neither bad nor good. More improvement (and real humor) to the second-half would be nice to justify this concept, because it becomes nonexistent when it begins talking about the themes that doesn't even sound sincere for the plot.