Allow me to introduce "I Do Bidoo Bidoo"

Hi guys! Houston here checking in for the first time in this blog. I've been blogging in other blogging social media before, but this is the first time I'm actually using a website dedicated to blogging. That's not really much of a change, since basically everything is the same.

Anyway, for my first review here in PBoaS, we have the light romantic comedy inspired by the songs of the Apo Hiking Society. Entitled "I Do Bidoo Bidoo", the story is about two lovers who are on their path to matrimony, which is suddenly hindered by the sanctity of family standards. Torn to choose their own family's side, they realize what they have to do in order to be together again.

That's basically all that there is to the story. Which in normal movie standards, isn't worth the money because the story would be too bland. But what was it that made the movie sell? Simple. It's the songs in it.

"I Do Bidoo Bidoo" isn't inspired by the songs of the Apo for nothing. It's a Filipino-Musical Movie for all age groups. Written and directed by Chris Martinez, with the superb cast and crew, this movie would not have been possible if it wasn't for these factors:

• Chris Martinez wrote and directed the movie - I make this my number one point because I've grown tired of the typical Filipino movies that are shown in the cinemas. It was always either a romantic comedy, or a non-frightening horror movie. Both of which would always have cliche stories. But things changed when the movie "Zombadings: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington" was in cinema because it changed the standard of Filipino comedy. This new fondness of local movies was further amplified when I saw "Ang Babae sa Septic Tank". Although it was an Indie film, this was the first Chris Martinez movie I saw, and it blew my mind so much that I decided that if I'm going to watch any local movies, it MUST be written by Chris Martinez. Having him direct the movie would have made it even MORE interesting. And because this movie is written and directed by him, my expectations of the movie were not in vain.
• The cast was superb! I could not imagine anybody else in the movie. Allow me to elaborate

1. Ogie Alcasid - did an excellent job in his role as Pol Potolan, a one hit wonder singer turned guitar teacher, who's inspiration for his music is his family. And his singing of "pag-ibig" was done beautifully. And I must say, his acting skills must have been put to the test in this movie for him to have been able to pull of that one scene with Eugene Domingo. Speaking of which...
2. Eugene Domingo - Eugene (as explained in Ang Babae sa Septic Tank) has three levels of acting. The elevator acting, the TV Patrol acting, and the indie movie acting. The first two is what she uses when she's in a comedy. The indie movie acting is what she did here because the prior methods could not be applied. She needed to play the role of Rose Polotan, a hard working mother who only wants what's best for her family, so she needed to act and not look like she's really acting. This movie showed her versatility as an actress because you get to hear her sing in at least three songs! And she wasn't off key! This is because according to a behind the scenes clip of I Do Bidoo Bidoo, Eugene actually had voice lessons before filming was done. And you could hear the results very well.
3. Zsa Zsa Padilla - you could see in Elaine Fuentebella's eyes the sadness of what was going on in their side of the family, but had the courage to meet the problems that she had to face. Her singing was beautiful, but I think her character could have had a better resolve with her husband.
4. Gary Valenciano - the workaholic Nick Fuentebella who almost lost his marriage to Elaine because he couldn't care less. Gary's singing style didn't always fit with that of the Apo songs, but his singing of "Paano" fit just as well as when the Apo gave him "Di na Natuto". Frankly, if they had a deeper back story to support what they did in their resolve, then maybe I would have given their resolve more meaning. But the movie isn't just about their problems, or the Polotan parents. The movie's actual story revolved around
5. Sam Concepcion - a young registered nurse, Rock Polotan is about to be wed to his girlfriend Tracy, but their wedding is suddenly cancelled because of Tracy's grandfather who does not approve of him. His singing was sublime. I could not imagine anybody else singing the songs the way he did. But one person's singing stood out among all the cast for me. And that voice belongs to...
6. Tippy Dos Santos - Patricia Fuentebella, a beautiful, rich girl of high maintainance, is the girlfriend of Rock Polotan. Her struggles are typical when your family is against your marriage, and your boyfriend suddenly chooses his family over you. Seeing as how her list of appearances involve mostly TV shows that I don't watch, I barely knew her. But after seeing her in a line reading audition, and hear her singing voice in the trailer, I expected a lot out of her in the movie, and she delivered. The best that I could ever hear. Each time she sang, I would get goosebumps. Her acting was great, but my favorite actor in the movie would have to be
7. Niel Coleta - Commonly known to everybody as "The guy in the Nestea" commercial, his was by far the best acting that I got in the movie. I did not understand his character when he first appeared, but in his second scene, it became clear, and each time I saw him, I never saw the Nestea boy again. I will now refer to him forever as Brent. Rock's best friend.
8. The rest of the cast were also great. I just wanted to emphasize on these seven because these are the ones whom I felt made the story what it is.

• It wouldn't be proper for me to not mention his name in this review because I actually knew the Musical Director of this movie. And each time a song appeared, I could only think "only you could have been creative enough to have pulled it off like this". Yes, I'm talking about Vincent De Jesus. As a member of the Philippine Educational Theater Association, Vince knows what it means to put on a musical. And to incorporate it in a movie, he understood the elements needed to give the songs more meaning. Each word had to be pronounced properly. Each note had to be hit properly. Each word had to be given a certain stress in order for it to give more meaning not just to the song, but to the scene. These are the things that I recognized from Vince having been able to work under him a long time ago. 
• Lastly, I would like to mention the choreographers of the movie for being able to create such interesting dance routines. I just wish the boys with their guitars were more synchronized, but they're just children so I forgive them.

Let's now move on to the story. As I mentioned earlier, the story, without the songs, would have been bland. The conflict of the story was all about the treatment of society to teenagers who get married too early, and at the same time, they are of different social classes. These are two common problems in the Philippine society. And although the resolution was also what other people in the Philippines would normally do, I think the movie was never about the story itself, but it has always been about combining songs of the Apo into one movie. And I agree. This is how the movie works. It works because we get to sing along to our favorite Apo Hiking Society songs, and Chris Martinez was smart enough to be able to connect all those songs into one story. Sure, this isn't the best Filipino movie of the year, but if you LOVE Apo, then you'd be very happy with what they did with this movie.

P.S. - ang eksena ni Ogie Alcasid at Eugene Domingo ay rated SPG. Ingatan ang inyong mga mata..