Gay-themed romance is more derivative than inventive

From left: Sam Milby, Angel Locsin and Zanjoe Marudo

Despite our misgivings about “Mercury is Mine,” Jason Paul Laxamana’s “strange” Cinemalaya entry, we can’t begrudge the filmmaker’s irrepressibly dark comedies (“Ang Taba Ko Kasi,” “Love is Blind”) their viewability and puckish charm.

But you can’t watch Laxamana’s latest film, “The Third Party,” without the gnawing feeling you’ve seen many of its crowd-pleasing sequences before—but done better, and with more cogent ease and clarity.

The story is pretty straightforward: After a serendipitous reunion, cash-strapped eventologist cum fashion designer wannabe Andi Medina (Angel Locsin) intends to patch things up with cosmetic surgeon Max Labrador (Sam Milby), the dashing ex-beau she broke up with many years ago.

Loving relationship

There’s one hitch, however: Max is now in a loving relationship with Christian Pilar (Zanjoe Marudo), the openly gay pediatric oncologist who made Max realize he’s bisexual, and with whom he’s been happily living with for three years.

Laxamana’s unconventional three-way romance brings something fresh to the LGBTQ story—it makes people realize that relationships, whether they’re of the straight or gender-bending variety, requires a lot of work.

Even with the generous A grade it got from the Cinema Evaluation Board (go figure), it’s hard to look past the gay-themed production’s storytelling encumbrances or how the film utilizes easy-to-predict deus ex machina moments to conveniently hopscotch from one section of the exposition to another:

Samples: Just after Christian gets into a heated argument with Max over the latter’s reluctance to adopt a child, Andi shows up on their doorstep tearfully announcing that she’s been knocked up by her lecherous runaway boyfriend (Paolo Paraiso).

When Christian offers Andi a “pangkabuhayan showcase” (financial and housing assistance) in exchange for her unborn child, she snaps at him and says she isn’t the type who’d give her baby away—but, just minutes earlier, she was asking Christian and Max to abort it! —Confused much?

Impassioned smooch

Much later, just as Max and Andi share an impassioned smooch, Christian, who’s supposed to be away on an overseas trip, shockingly emerges from out of nowhere and witnesses the naughty pair commit the dastardly deed! Like clockwork, you just know that they’re going to show up.

In another scene, Max, a cosmetic surgeon, comes home exhausted after a 12-hour surgery—there are few surgical procedures that take that much time, unless Max had mistakenly barged into a craniotomy or exploratory laparotomy at the operating room.

It’s glaring missteps like those that undermine a scene’s needed tension just as it reaches fever pitch. We appreciate the oddball but pertinent situations the film boldly brings to the fore—from a gay man’s much-delayed coming out, to a beleaguered dame’s unintended pregnancy.

The film’s refreshing lack of schmaltz and sentimentality allows its occasional dramatic moments to hit their mark as they deftly balance the trio’s issues with situational comedy. Laxamana doesn’t allow his movie to get mired in convoluted dramatic clichés—but, in terms of its comedic elements, that’s another story.

You won’t find a more photogenic cast than Angel, Sam and Zanjoe—but, you’d soon realize that their physical pluperfection doesn’t do much to make their individual characterizations credible and empathetic. The lead actors’ performances feel detached and “psychically” disconnected. They look good together, but they don’t “connect.”

Weighed down by a poorly fleshed-out character, Sam’s “explicatory” portrayal (“I’m bisexual. I am attracted to a person—not his or her gender”) is as indecisive as the character he portrays. After all, a fine performance is “shown and felt,” not just “explained.” Zanjoe does best among the three lead actors, but he’s just as devoid of inner life.

Knee-jerk realizations

They’re awkward and ill at ease in their respective roles—and Angel, weighed down further by her “pushed,” staccato delivery, relies too much on knee-jerk realizations and reactions to justify her character’s motivations.

The film has a showy plot and premise that don’t deliver on its promise. It plays out its sections breezily, but has trouble settling into a cohesive, free-flowing story. It eschews logic for something more crowd-pleasingly kwela (zany).

For instance, in Max’s case, he constantly worries about his homophobic dad (Al Tantay) finding out about his “readjusted,” alternative lifestyle. But, when he introduces Christian, his current boyfriend, to Andi, his ex-girlfriend, he makes it seem like it’s the most natural thing to do—nary a hint of embarrassment or hesitation!

“The Third Party” is more derivative than inventive, and much of it feels overly familiar—it’s a hodgepodge of borrowed situations garnished with a dash of swishy froth.