It's a laugh-a-minute comedy about an interracial couple and their journey towards that great American festivity called "Thanksgiving". Along the way we share their triumphs and tragedies and at the end we it'll completely shed new light on these relationships between Pinays and American ex-pats. That's about the end of me writing in purely English.
From the moment the first scene started running, I knew that I was in for a treat. "Turkey Man ay Pabo Rin" had everything that made for a really good, and praise worthy movie. They shot the movie in a better format than what's being used in regular movies. No grainy stuff and it doesn't look like it was hobbled together from scraps of footage. Good job on that front. The editing was great and even those psychedelic crazy scenes involving the titular turkey was also done to entertain and not make you feel like it was just a bridging mechanism.
Tuesday Vargas is truly the star of the show. Sobrang laughtrip nya in the lighter scenes and she's also great in scenes where she needs to convey sadness or frustration. Talagang maawa ka. Pero mostly I loved the parts where she was happy and just the generally zany Cookie.
Tuesday's onscreen partner, Travis Kraft, is a find. He looks great and exudes smart Amerikano humor and then some. He's a YouTube celeb and he knows what he's talking about whether within or outside the movie that gives him more credibility for me, as an actor.
One of the biggest things that hits us right in the gullet in this movie is our quick judgment on American-Filipina couples. Once we see them, automatic yan, 'gold digger' or 'good time' lang ang iniisip natin. Admit it, we are all guilty of this. Seeing this movie sheds some light (like I mentioned earlier) about a fraction of the truth in these kinds of relationships; na meron talagang couples who really do love each other and hindi nagagamitan. It's funny but there's a portion in the film where we actually go and see the reflection of ourselves in the questions that the couple are asked to read. Sapul.
The supporting cast is great here most noteworthy (partly due to the long screentime) are Cookie's friends Osang (Julia Clarete) and Girlie (Cai Cortez). Both are funny and totally grounds the character serving us additional support and 'kabatuhan ng linya' in some cases. I like the fact that they're also there to show viewers na kahit di kayo magkadugo, you can still call some people your bestfriends.
Kudos to JM De Guzman as Dong and Micko Laurente as Jon-Jon. Both have their moments and although they get downplayed a bit there's still so much meat into their roles. Sucky talaga minsan ang time constraints.
The dialogue and humor might be a bit crass and borderline green pero, come on, ganun naman talaga tayo sa totoong buhay. We don't live like drama queens and kings when we are in our habitat or element. We cuss and we crack dirty jokes and we're this usual guy and girl in our own homes, watching telenovela and singing our hearts out in our Magic Sing.
Overall, nag-enjoy ako sa "Turkey Man ay Pabo Rin". It's got heart and balls and we have to admire the entire team for producing a worthwhile comedy that tackles a rather sensitive issue while giving us a lot of great comedic moments. It's a movie na hindi masasayang ang pera mo dahil tatawa ka, at busog ka sa tawa dahil hindi slapstick at lalong hindi naman puro rehash ang binibigay *ubo ubo Kimy Dora *ubo ubo*. Magbubukas ang ilaw sa sinehan at uuwi ka na masaya at feel good that I can guarantee. Here are a few clips.
Here's the official trailer by the way:
Oh and one last thing, I support this movie because they fricking shot the final few scenes a few blocks away from my apartment. Bonus brownie points galing sa akin.
ANG TURKEY MAN AY PABO RIN Opens Dec. 18 exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas including Greenbelt, Glorietta and Trinoma.
