Fascinating mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and light drama

BEAUTY may not be skin-deep, but it’s always the first thing we notice about the people we meet—not their good heart, sparkling personalities or their leavening sense of humor.

As it examines our fascination for beauty and material things, Jason Paul Laxamana’s “Love is Blind” quickly overcomes its occasional incoherence and predictable progression with its mordantly funny take on man’s exhaustive and sometimes elusive quest for physical perfection.

In the movie, less-than-lovely Fe Ching (Kiray Celis) suddenly finds herself becoming the belle of the ball when model and man-about-town Wade Santillan (Derek Ramsay)—whose relationship with girlfriend Maggie Labrador (Solenn Heussaff) is on the rocks—starts pursuing her.

Fe owes the titillating change of romantic pace to the magic potion that has turned her into a ravishing beauty—in Wade’s eyes, at least. In fact, for the eligible bachelor, Fe looks exactly like Maggie! But what happens when Wade finds out that Fe isn’t who she says she is?

There may not be enough layers to the production’s cast of characters to make the film fully satisfying, but Laxamana delivers the production’s giddy rom-com elements with a wink and a cheeky grin. He effectively avoids a proselytizing tone by combining a light comic touch with unfabricated emotions.

Derek looks good, but his role doesn’t require him to do much. For her part, Solenn is tasked with a bigger challenge, because she gets to play two roles—with mixed results: She’s disarming in one, and awkwardly wacky in the other.

There may not be all that much beneath the surface of this shallow entertainment, and not all the jokes hit their mark. But the director chivvies the zany and situational comedic action along with pace and thematic perspicacity, and makes sure that his actors don’t coast on charm alone.

Take the film’s appropriately cast muse, Kiray—it’s amusing to see her manipulating people to get what she wants, but she’s just as effusively funny with her guilt-ridden hangdog looks. She makes an unlikely but watchable leading lady because of her no-holds-barred perkiness and whip-smart spunk.

Unlike Pokwang and Melai Cantiveros, Kiray doesn’t always play to the peanut gallery. She is competent enough to handle the movie’s fascinating mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and light drama—and has enough timing and charm to sell some of its weaker lines and underwhelming sequences.