What should stars do for an encore?

DOMINGO. Needs to make up for lost traction.

As we start a new entertainment year, we wish only the best for stars who, in 2013, enhanced their careers with inspired and savvy moves. What should they do for an encore?

Last year, Eugene Domingo distinguished herself by winning thespic honors both here and abroad. But, she concluded the year with yet another “Kimmy Dora” production, which didn’t end up as one of the Metro Manila Film Festival’s hottest hits.

So, she needs to make up for lost traction by next coming up not with yet another “commercial” gambit, but with a new and edgy cinematic “surprise” more along the impressive likes of “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank.” She also needs to work even harder on TV, where her projects have not been as luminously distinctive as they should have been.

‘Transformational’ attempts

For his part, Piolo Pascual has been trying to break out of his mainstream “matinee idol” mold and should be praised for his “transformational” attempts, both as actor and producer.

But, it must be noted that his ambition has not been sufficiently matched by his ability. He’s been unable to  completely break away from his signature mannered, temperate and controlled style of performance, so this should be his main challenge and objective in his 2014 portrayals.

For starters, Piolo should get a strong and uncompromising director to push him past his well-established limits, so he can surprise not just his audience, but also himself. Can he break free from the facile portrayals of the past two decades? A “dictatorially” demanding director just might help him pull it off.

Vice Ganda has been going from one TV-film success after another, and his winning streak may have made him too cocksure and smug for his own good.

As a result, the challenge he set up for himself, to credibly play all four genders in his MMFF starrer, “Boy, Girl, Bakla, Tomboy,” proved to be too tough for him to convinvingly measure up to—and that’s a great, anticlimactic pity.

Unsatisfying outcome

PASCUAL. His ambition has not been sufficiently matched by his ability.

It also didn’t help that his director, Wenn Deramas, didn’t motivate him strongly enough, hence the unsatisfying outcome of Vice’s impetuous attempt to further stretch his capabilities and range of screen personae.

In 2014, therefore, he needs to realize that smugness can eventually erode his unique advantage over other stellar comics. Even on his daily noontime show, Vice has been having too much of a giddy lark, and thus needs to go back to “hungry and humble” mode. Is he too far gone on the slick and smug side of show biz success and celebrity to turn things around? Let’s hope not!