Erich Gonzales buoys up turgid three-way romance

GONZALES. Genuine dramatic gem.

Erich Gonzales goes from princess to pauper in Laurice Guillen’s turgid romantic triangle, “Once A Princess”—about Erin Almeda (Gonzales), a bratty campus beauty who dumps nerdy dreamer, Leonard Jamieson (Enchong Dee), for the rich and roguishly handsome Damian Albert (JC de Vera), when she learns about her family’s dwindling fortunes.

As it turns out, her rakish prince is neither as rich nor as charming as he initially appears. In fact, Damian becomes a self-entitled alcoholic cripple with no aptitude for business. Moreover, her fall from grace is further haunted by memories of The One That Got Away.

Without a lot of options left, Erin finds herself jumping from the frying pan into the fire, and ends up working for the now big-shot Leonard, who intends to make her realize that she has chosen the wrong guy—and thus avenge his broken heart!

Abrupt transitions 

The film starts out auspiciously with a breezy rom-com swagger—but, it doesn’t take long for it to fall victim to its clockwork contrivances. It’s hard to get invested in the characters and their respective situations because the transitions are too abrupt and awkwardly staged:

For their first date, rich girl Erin drags the nerdy admirer she hardly knows to the beach, where she kisses him, and he calls her “my North Star, my anchor, my destination—my compass.” This, coming from a guy who has just relocated from Norway—scary!

She goes home and is shaken out of her superficial shell with the news that her family’s properties have been foreclosed by the bank! Worse, she also learns that her mother is dying of terminal cancer! —All in one day!

The performances turned in by Dee and De Vera don’t help, either: The hunky JC reminds us of the nostrils-flaring, vacuous bluster of some of our veteran actors—it’s all flash and not much thespic texture.

As a New Media innovator, Dee is just as unconvincing. He turns in a feather-light approximation of how a powerful executive acquits himself in front of subordinates, but his nuanceless portrayal can’t be concealed by his swanky coat and tie. You “see” the change, but you don’t “feel” the difference between the hardened, bespectacled adult and the gullible weakling he claims to have died from a broken heart six years ago.

Corrosive relationship  

Fortunately, Gonzales’ well-limned characterization helps keep things on an even keel, and makes the movie viewable, never allowing her scenes to get overdramatized—even in the tricky sequences that attempt to examine her corrosive relationship with her loutish husband.

Her emotional shifts are subtle and heart-rending, even when the scenes are stultifyingly contrived—like, when she begs Enchong for a job, or when she blames herself for other people’s misfortune.

In another scene, the luminous Erich will steal your heart as she silently cries over a broken shoe heel—with no frills or artificial flourishes.

She may not have the drawing power of her more personable peers but, like the exceptional Bea Alonzo, this screen princess is a genuine dramatic gem!