Movie Review: Four Sisters and a Wedding

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Star Cinema kicks it off by offering the star-studded movie Four Sisters and a Wedding featuring the Philippine’s current top caliber actresses: Bea Alonzo, Angel Locsin, Toni Gonzaga and Shaina Magdayao. Last Thursday, I was able to watch the film at Robinsons Place Imus. Is it a wedding worth watching or stopping?

Directed by box-office director Cathy Garcia-Molina, the film shares the story of the Salazar siblings namely Teddie (Toni Gonzaga), the eldest, who works as a teacher in Spain; Bobbie (Bea Alonzo), who is now successful in New York; Alex (Angel Locsin), the third child who is a Manila-based independent film assistant director; Gabbie (Shaina Magdayao), a school teacher who lives at home together with their mother; and CJ (Enchong Dee) the youngest child who put all his sisters in shock when he announced that he is going to marry his girlfriend for three months, Princess. After a few years of not being together as a whole family, Teddie, Bobbie, Alex, and Gabbie come together for the wedding and have agreed to dissuade their baby brother from marrying his fiancée. But as they interact with each other for the wedding, the Salazar siblings also face the feelings and issues they’ve tried to keep for the longest time. Are CJ’s four sisters not yet ready to let him go? Are they truly trying to fix their brother’s life? Or do they need to fix their own lives first?

With four big actresses headlining this film, you might want to know how did each of them fare? At first, Bea Alonzo seems a bit uncomfortable playing a straight-A hardworking woman. As the movie progresses, she eventually sheds off the uneasiness turning back to the reliable fine actress we knew and delivered the film’s strongest performance in the dramatic climax. Despite her tendencies to be cartoony, Toni Gonzaga showed her usual energetic performance that never failed to get the laughs. She’s definitely the scene-stealer in this film. Angel Locsin’s role may not be as impressive as Bea and Toni’s but she gave the most grounded performance. Constrained by the limitations of her role, Shaina did what the role asked her yet she didn’t get the full capacity to shine. The rest of the supporting cast is good with standouts like Carmi Martin with her funny exaggerated French accent and Janus del Prado as Toni’s comedic sidekick.

I’m a fan of Garcia-Molina since she directed two of my favorite local films One More Chance and It Takes a Man and a Woman but this film suffered from bad writing and misdirection. The film didn’t know if it wanted to be a dramatic film or a comedy film. She wasn’t able to balance them successfully that’s the reason why when it jumps off to drama, it didn’t feel natural at all even if the performances are fine as I have mentioned and some of the comedic scenes were a bit trying hard.

Overall, it’s unfair to say that the film is “chararat” or “unattractive” because there is a good film in there somewhere but it got lost with uncertainty. If Toni Gonzaga’s Teddie will react to my verdict, she will say “Pinaganda mo pa! Forgettable lang.”

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About the movie reviewer:

Orange Magazine TV‘s newest film critic is a self-confessed movie geek. John Albert Villanueva love movies so much, he watch every movies from the big screen and collects DVDs of classic movies. Read his other review here.