Maybe next time

COCO (left) doesn’t fare as well as Sarah.

Sarah Geronimo and Coco Martin’s current co-starrer, “Maybe This Time,” is an interesting proposition, because it showcases Sarah, not in her usual “pushed,” for-the-fans portrayal; but as a more believable and insightful young-adult player.

Now that the actress is 25 years old, it really is about time for her to “graduate” to more textured and complex characterization—and it’s  good to see that she’s giving her belated transition her best try!

Indeed, in the key confrontation and “confess-all” scene between her and Coco toward the film’s end, she came up with the more believable and emotionally focused and charged portrayal by far, while her leading man can only summon up his standard, throbbing-voiced approximation of a felt performance.

Unfortunately, Sarah can’t sustain her shift to a more mature portrayal throughout the movie, and tends to occasionally backslide into diverting gimmicks and crowd-pleasing antics.

Still, she does well enough, all told, so we hope that, next time around, she will be more confident in her newfound thespic strengths to really go for broke!

“Maybe This Time” has other plus points going for it, like some effective comedic moments and occasionally brisk storytelling and visual polish. On the other hand, some major scripting problems hobble its fluid progression, like Coco’s initially vague reason for not keeping his all-important trust with Sarah during the film’s first half, which results in her hating him for seven long years before their paths  cross again.

By that time, he’s become rich and has acquired a more mature and much taller girlfriend (Ruffa Gutierrez).

That other relationship also turns out to be a major distraction, because Coco and Ruffa’s love scenes look and feel decidedly awkward—and lopsided.

To make things worse, Ruffa opts for an overly arch and “overwhelming” portrayal that makes Coco look even smaller and weaker—not what a male lead performance should be!

Other scripting or motivational infelicities include Sarah’s being so bitchy with Coco even if it puts her job at risk—a job that she desperately needs to pay for her incapacitated father’s huge medical bills.

Such contradictions weaken the believability of her character’s supposedly daunting problems, which we end up regarding as more melodramatically theoretical than truly deserving of our genuinely empathetic involvement.

Aside from the lead players, the supporting cast’s participation is also problematic—it’s more distracting than purposeful. Specifically, the comedic “sidekicks” in the movie, who are supposed to provide much-needed “comic relief,” often turn out to be counterproductive, because they’re too “hyper” in their  frenetic effort  to be fun and with-it, and they call too much attention to themselves.

In these and other less than productive instances, greater directorial control is needed to provide more focus and relative pertinence to the antic actors’ work,  but it isn’t to be had.

Maybe next time?