PARAS. Strength of character. gmanetwork.com
The new romantic film, “No Boyfriend Since Birth,” is a fun romp for “empathetic sweethearts,” made even more special for some fans because it’s the first movie to costar Carla Abellana and Tom Rodriguez. What’s the big deal? Well, Tom and Carla topbilled the hit TV series, “My Husband’s Lover,” some years ago, and viewers who loved that show have been “begging” to see them on the big screen, as well.
Carla and Tom were married on their TV series, with Dennis Trillo playing Tom’s lover. But, all that was clearly just role-playing, so fans’ romantic hopes have remained aloft.
Well, “NBSB” has made the cinematic wish come true, so Carla-Tom followers are expected to boost its prospects at the box office.
If it does really well, its success will be doubly welcome at this point in the two stars’ respective careers, which have been on a sort of plateau for too long. Yes, Tom is on “Marimar,” but his character has been compromised in terms of appeal and logic by his initially “faked” love for Marimar, because he needed to get married to claim his huge inheritance.
Later, he changed his mind, but his duplicity had already tainted his character as far as some viewers—this one included—were concerned.
Tom also had a daily game show, which failed to fly for the long term—so, a hit film would be just what the show biz doctor ordered to energize his career this season.
Carla currently has a TV show, “Karelasyon,” but she does only storytelling and hosting duties on the weekly anthology drama—which isn’t as popular as it could be—so, she also needs a successful movie to make her day—and year!
Carla-Tom fans, you know what to do!
More unsolicited advice
For some months now, we’ve been citing Andre Paras as one of the more promising stars-in-the-making on the local show biz scene. But, he or his handlers have been making some off-the-mark decisions that they should reconsider as soon as possible.
First, he agreed to be paired off in “The Half-Sisters” with Barbie Forteza, who’s just too petite for a really tall young comer like him.
As a result, they make a visually ungainly pair, and he’s much better off with the less petite likes of Yassi Pressman, his costar in a new film (“Wang Fam,” a horror-comedy flick).
Andre should also realize that some people are getting turned off by his refusal to “forgive” his estranged mother, Jackie Forster. She may have hurt him and his brother a lot when they were kids, but she’s been trying to reach out, so he should in turn find the strength of character to meet her halfway.
A mother is a mother, after all, and Filipinos in particular don’t take kindly to youths who can’t or don’t want to arrive at that admittedly difficult insight.
For Andre’s life and stellar career to really lighten and brighten up, he should confront and rise above that key stumbling block—soonest!
For her part, we used to gripe that Barbie was using too much makeup for a young star like her—but, we should note that she looks fresher and more natural these days. Keep it up!
—And, while she’s at it, she should also simplify her portrayals, and not load them with too much “for the fans” cuteness and frisky antics. —It’s part of growing up, right?
It’s also heartening to note that some performers are winning the battle of the bulge. Claudine Barretto recently set the pace in this regard with her comeback portrayal in “Etiquette for Mistresses.” She isn’t quite there yet (another 10 or 15 lbs should do the trick), but she gets an “A” for determined effort.
Next, we caught a recent TV performance of Aiko Melendez, who used to be really big and heavy, and she looked noticeably slimmer—so, props to her, too! If she loses more weight, she’s still young enough to work her career back to lead and stellar status, instead of the mother and character roles she’s being given these days.
Finally, there’s Sharon Cuneta, who’s as big as ever despite occasional promises to address her career-limiting problem.
We keep hoping that she really gets her act together in this key regard, because she owes it to her loyal fans—and herself. Sharon still has some great performances left in her, so it would be such a pity if she gives up the fight this early!