Tale in the Tills: This Guy's In Love With You Mare

I actually had no plans to go out Saturday. I was saving all my energy for my wonderful escapade the next day when one of

my closest friends texted me.

“Hey friend, are you busy?”, she said.

“Let’s watch This Guy’s In Love With You Mare?”, I eagerly asked… with four exclamation points at the end of my statement.

“Uhm, ok. After my masteral (class)”, she replied.

Later that day, I would find out that she texted me to ask help for her seatwork. But like me and millions of Filipinos who are looking for a feel-good yet heart-wrenching flick, we trooped to SM Cinemas and disregarded the long lines, the traffic, and the noisy seatmates at the movie house.

This Guy’s In Love With You Mare revolves around three characters: Lester, played by Vice Ganda; Mike, played by Luis Manzano; and the focal person of the story, Gemma, played by Toni Gonzaga. Mike splits up with Lester, his gay lover and benefactor for three years, reasoning out his conversion to the Born Again Faith. Left in despair, Lester follows Mike and discovers that he was dumped by the latter in favour of Gemma, a Bank Teller who easily falls head over heels to chivalrous acts.

Motivated by the possibility of reconciling things with Mike, Lester plots to split the two lovers by acting like a straight guy who would save Gemma from a hoax hold-up staged with the help of his four gay friends, played by IC Mendoza, Ricci Chan, Ricky Rivero and the group’s punching bag, Lassy.

Confused, Gemma’s affection towards Mike turns SOS as the former begins to fall for pretending Lester, who has showered her with ridiculous gifts such as giant-sized flowers and chocolates, and even tickets to the back-to-back-to-back concert of Aegis and April Boy Regino.

Things get more complicated as Mike discovers that his archrival in Gemma’s heart is his ex gay lover.

The major charmer of the movie is the unique storyline and plot. Such is regarded as fresh since it has not been done in local cinema. The writer was also able to successfully highlight the major characters with respect to gender.

Also the movie will not leave one boisterously laughing to the point of exhaustion, but with the witty punchlines wisely distributed throughout the film, viewers were able to sustain their interest until the very end of the film.

There is one scene that really stood out among the rest. In Moron 5, it was John Lapus’ Shaider Monologue. In Kimmy Dora 2, it was Eugene Domingo’s Maldita moments as Kimmy. Sans being a spoiler, that hilarious scene was after Mike finds out that Lester was courting Gemma and their cars met on the street. Go see, and laugh, for yourself.

Vice Ganda was brilliant in portraying a straight guy. He would definitely pass for one, but since he’s openly gay, such fact has served as an icing to the humor of his action scenes. He effectively separated the guy from the gay Lester.

Luis was also effective as a boy toy. He looked the part, and even gave audience the impression that he came from a poor family but was still able to survive because of his good looks. He also made the audience feel how he wanted to change for the love of Gemma.

Toni was a riot in the film. Her witty remarks made her punch lines more effective, coupled with her signature facial expressions which made her fresh and sincere on-screen.

All in all, the movie was a total riot. And it wouldn't be a big surprise if it even exceeds Private Benjamin or The Mistress.