The treat soon turns to tedium

GERONIMO AND ANDERSON. Stultifying in kilig, unreal fantasy-escapist romance.

Sarah Geronimo and Gerald Anderson’s first film together some years ago was a top hit, so a follow-up vehicle, “Won’t Last a Day Without You,” has been trotted out to cement their profitable stellar relationship.

Initially, the movie delights, because Sarah plays a most unconventional role in it — she’s the gung-ho, motor-mouth DJ Heidee, a shlock radio personality who dispenses trenchant advice to the lovelorn and love-battered.

It’s fun to see Sarah working so hard to “channel” all those radio banshees who drive us bonkers with their “signature” screeches and demented laughter — but, the treat soon turns to tedium when we realize that the actress is merely going through the motions of being and sounding madcap and ditzy.

When the frenetic “performance” simmers down, as it eventually must, the core of the character Sarah plays is too lightweight and hollow to be worth our empathy.

Sure, it’s revealed that she’s been bruised by a past love, which is why she’s so “down” on everything involving the heart — but, the extent and depth of her pain isn’t sufficiently shared.

Feelings

For his part, Gerald is a handsome hunk who plays with his many girlfriends’ feelings — until he connects with the love of his life, played by Megan Young. He doesn’t know it yet, though, so he breaks her heart, as well, and it’s Sarah’s DJ character who advises her to call it quits.

Belatedly mourning the loss and enraged at the DJ for making it come to pass, Gerald files a formal complaint that scares Sarah and makes her promise to him that she will do anything he tells her to for him to win Megan back.

That, by the way, includes getting into a furry mascot costume, among other far-out indignities. All of these wildly incredible gambits don’t just stretch credulity, they obliterate it, and watching the movie after that, for viewers who value believability and logic, becomes an exercise in futility. Yes, the film can still be enjoyed at the kilig level, no questions asked (and answered), but that’s about it, Which is sort of a pity, because some of the material’s other gambits, like the value it places on forgiveness and second chances, are more on the up-and-up.

And Gerald and Sarah do work hard at making their more real and sensitive moments separately or together come off with a measure of emotional pertinence. —But, when all is said and done, what chance do those more pertinent and empathetic moments have of genuinely impinging on viewers’ emotions when, a minute later, the movie’s overwhelmingly kilig, kikay and ga-ga intentions kick in again?

Plus points

The film’s other plus points include the crisp and lively progression of its first half, the sometimes interestingly zany portrayal of Joey de Leon as Sarah’s “rocker” dad, and the pertinent use of “feedback” and diverse reactions from sundry groups of radio listeners to show how they regard the mass medium as a colorfully empathetic part of their lives.

That particular “framing” device gives the movie a larger dimension than its exceedingly narrow and ultimately stultifying focus on kilig, and unreal fantasy-escapist romance “for the fans.”

It enables the storytelling to “breathe” and not feel so silly and claustrophobic. Sarah and Gerald’s handlers should pay attention because, as the stars and their fans outgrow their silliness, this more real and contextual dimension should be the way to go!