I rarely watch movies on my downtime...
So it's a rare treat for me to be able to view two movies within the span of a week. I needed a little recreational diversion so I watched Wedding Tayo, Wedding Hindi! and Zombadings... Patayin sa Shokot si Remington... Both movies are worth your time and money. Lots of laughs and hardly any dull moments.
Both movies have an able cast. Both movies feature actresses Eugene Domingo and Odette Khan. That is where the similarities stop. Wedding Tayo is a feature film produced by Star Cinema with a bigger budget and better promotional support group. Zombadings is an indie film. That said, you all know they have a shoe string budget sans stars of Philippine cinema.
Wedding Tayo, Wedding Hindi! narrates the story of two couples: one couple on the throes of sealing the relationship with a wedding, another on the throes of ending a commitment after the husband squanders the family savings on a failed networking scheme. Eugene Domingo is the housewife who's had enough of her husband's get-rich-quick shenanigans. She ups and leaves the love nest with only a suitcase in tow. Years of financial mishandling by her husband (Wendell Ramos) and maltreatment from her snooty mother in law (Odette Khan) made her decide enough was enough. Toni Gonzaga on the other hand, is the young lass turned japayuki who has returned home to marry her mama's boy/struggling public school teacher sweetheart.
The comedy ensues when Eugene Domingo tries as best as she can to resist her husband's boyish charms and go back home to her family temporarily coddled by her rich monster of a mother in law. Toni on the other hand, delivers a great shock to her fiance and his ultra-conservative religious bigot mom, when she displays a less than virginal stance every time they meet. Domingo is forever penny-pinching for her family. Gonzaga is all agog over wedding-of-the-century plans which starts to go way out of hand. Both women have to contend with stereo-typical mothers in law: Khan as the wealthy matron against her daughter in law from the get-go; Irma Adlawan as the over-pious, over zealous church sponsor. The men are rendered effete as they both portray spineless mama's boys who try to please both women in their lives.
Zombadings is all kitsch and camp! Five year old Remington is cursed by a grieving Paula Ricaforte (Roderick Paulate) to become gay after the former pokes fun at the drag queen in a cemetery. Eventually, Remington grows up to become a strapping young man who becomes enamored with Hanna (Lauren Young) whose grieving widowed mother decides to live in Lucban. The town is embroiled in a spate of serial killings the target being drag queens and Remington's police chief mother (Janice de Belen) is tasked by the town Mayor (Odette Khan) with finding the killer.
Suddenly, Remington is hounded by a dark gay spirit thrice. The next day, he wakes up in sweat to find all his body hair gone. The next time the spirit attacks, it drives a similar looking tricycle of his best friend (Kerbie Zamora) and dupes Remington in a secluded spot to pull his tongue. The next day Remington starts getting tongue twisted uttering nothing but gay lingo. The final blow comes when the spirit haunts him while sleeping in his own home spewing plasma-like substance in his mouth and body. The next day Remington is turned into a twink. None of his clothes fit... he is reduced to wearing his sister's baby tees... The transformation is complete... He has become what he fears most!
Meanwhile the killings continue unabated. And someone tips police-mom that the killer carries a weird looking contraption designed by a graduating student from an agricultural school. The thing that kills the drag queens is a "gay-dar" which detects this trait in animals. Over-exposure to the "gay-dar" warrants certain death as it sucks the life out of the unsuspecting queens. The latest death occurs in a drinking spree of Remington's dad (John Regala) and his friends when the gay-dar falls out of his barkada's clutch bag. It inadvertently turns on and focuses its rays on their friend killing him in the end. Remington's dad unwittingly becomes an accessory to the murder.
Each foreboding becomes more evident when Remington sees a floating fuschia pashmina. So as the town fiesta approaches Remington becomes even more incensed as he feels a growing attraction to his best friend instead of Hannah. His friend on the other hand is disturbed as they lock lips; thinking that he is the reason why the queens die after a tryst with him. Hannah does not give up on Remington. They decide to seek out the curse giver Paula Ricaforte and confront him to take back the curse. They end up friends after a seance where the gay spirit reveals that the curse is only broken if and when Remington finds a willing replacement that happens to be a guy untouched and unmolested by gays.
The Zombies come alive when Paula is killed by the gay-dar after his dad's barkada follows them to the home of Paula. The assistant does incantations to bring back Paula to life to avenge the killings. All the victims come alive and bedlam follows. The conflict is resolved when Remington and his father come together in the town plaza when the zombies attack full force. Remington's father's friends are attacked by zombies, one of them des and the other who attempts to run to his aid is found by the gay-dar and is killed. Remington's dad agrees to replace him. Finally, the attack ends and everything returns to normal except that Remington father is now a drag queen, Hannah and Remington are now an item, Hannah's mom returns to her gracious self...
Both movies were so funny they reduced me to tears . They made no pretense at being deep. There were no complicated sub-plots. There were no convoluted conflicts. There was no toilet humor. They were just fun all the way. Philippine comedy can be funny if given the right treatment... these films will show you why...
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