Familial love conquers all

Vic Sotto (left) and Dawn Zulueta in “Meant to Beh”

When we watched Chris Martinez’s family comedy caper, “Meant to Beh,” we found ourselves chalking up plus and minus points in increasingly befuddling alternation.

The movie’s eventful plotting was initially a plus—except that it eventually bogged down due to the fact that the storytelling had too many diverse factors and elements to focus on.

It was fine and dandy when the central focus was on Vic Sotto and Dawn Zulueta’s family life with their kids, JC Santos, Gabbi Garcia and Baeby Baste.

The key conflict in Vic and Dawn’s backgrounds and aspirations was also a pertinent and productive way to go.

But, when the film time had to be expended on JC’s shy and unrequited love for Sue Ramirez, and Gabbi’s love-hate relationship with Ruru Madrid, the storytelling felt too “sharded.”

Yes, we knew that the flick had to appeal to the youth sector, but did it have to take up so much valuable screen time to do that?

Things became even more crowded when Vic and Dawn broke up, and he ended up dating Andrea Torres—which necessitated Dawn’s evening up the score by “cougarly” flirting with Daniel Matsunaga!

Sure, movies should have “something for everybody,” but whatever happened to relative focus, pertinence and thematic cogency?

Fuss and flurry

After the extended fuss and flurry, the film did end right-side-up, with its key point about (familial) love finally conquering all, coming through loud and bracingly clear. And, there were enough comedic moments that worked to enliven the proceedings.

The elements in “Meant to Beh” that clicked with viewers were paced by Dawn’s effervescent and (when needed) felt portrayal.

Vic gamely tried to keep up with her—but his signature deadpan and laid-back comedy style prevented his performance from “percolating” and peaking.

Among the movie’s junior leads, Gabbi shone brightest. “Baby Bae” Baste would have rated higher as a comedic find, but was bogged down by his slow delivery.

In terms of plotting, it was a timely and trendy touch to involve Vic in “Grubber” driving—a temporary occupation that enabled the storytelling to include effectively funny vignettes that involved popular luminaries, who added a lot to the MMFF entry’s “star value.”

Fudged focus

Although we found “Meant to Beh” generally a fun viewing experience, it could have been a bracingly breezier treat if it hadn’t been “obligated” to appeal to too many markets by predictably punching the audience’s viewing “buttons.”

In this instance, the plotting ploy ended up fudging its focus—with counterproductive results.

Martinez’s past comedy capers were tighter and thus more cogent efforts that effectively vivified their edgy themes, resulting in funnier comedic capers and sharper social and show biz satire.

This template works better for the antic filmmaker, so he should return to it posthaste for his upcoming flicks.