American Adobo (2002)

I borrowed the following blurb about the movie from Netflix:

American Adobo (2002)

Starring: Christopher De Leon, Dina Bonnevie

Director: Laurice Guillen

Category: Comedy

Format: Full Screen, More

Language: English

Subtitles: Spanish

Rated R: For sexuality and language

"In the tradition of Eat Drink Man Woman and The Wedding Banquet comes American Adobo, a comedy-drama about five Filipino-American college friends who reunite years after graduation (around a sumptuous banquet) to compare notes about their lives. Top-lined by the Philippines' most distinguished dramatic actor, Christopher De Leon, American Adobo offers just the right combination of ingredients; it's a fabulous feast for the head and heart."

How can one top that quote? It made the movie sound so wonderful, so scrumptious, I couldn't wait to find some time to sit down and watch it. I always say, "One man's yuck, is another man's yum" and so while it seems that others liked it, I have to say that I was very disappointed in this movie.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, or maybe, and this is more likely, the blurb made false promises. I was looking forward to a movie along the same vein as Eat Drink Man Woman or Mostly Martha and other such wonderful movies of that genre that combine cooking with cultural themes and a storyline that keeps you riveted to the screen. Sadly, this movie has none of that.

From the opening credits themselves, which show a close-up of someone chopping chicken, slicing string beans, breaking and whisking eggs, putting tomatoes through a food mill, you get the feeling this is a movie whose central theme is about food and cooking, meals shared by family and friends. The "sumptuous banquet" mentioned in the blurb, is just a bunch of friends sitting around a table passing the occasional bowl of food around. This movie is as much about food and being Filipino in America as let's say Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines.

Five college friends get together on a semi-regular basis to have dinner and discuss their lives. My first peeve- Two of the friends looked way to young to have gone to college with the others, but ok, although not believable I let it slip. The central character Tere, cooks amazing adobo, is attractive but frumpy, intelligent but naive, well loved by all her friends but not independent without them. She laments at becoming an old maid and feels that the only way her life is to be validated is if there is a man to lead the way. This is my second and third peeve. Why is there always this underlying belief that women can't be strong, independent, intelligent and happy if there is no man in their lives? Why in a movie that touts a central theme around cooking is there no cooking?

The other subplots are just as mediocre and cliché-a friend struggling with his sexuality and his feelings for one of the other friends. He cannot bring himself to come out of the closet, especially to his religious overbearing mother. A believable story line if it stopped right there. This is something that goes on everyday in the real world, yet the story takes a turn for the ridiculous and we find the friend on a plane back to Manila to intercept a package of naked photos of him and his lover that he accidentally sent to his mother. He arrives just as she's signing for the package and in her excitement to see her son he grabs the package out of her hand. The package is forgotten and alls well that ends well...yeah ok. Another friend struggles with feelings for a boyfriend whom she loves but cannot be with because he cheats on her constantly, but, when he writes her a song, she melts and takes him back. Ok, so how many times does he have to do this to you before you realize you are being suckered? Then there's the friend whose marriage is obviously over but stays because of the children. His wife is stereotyped as a shallow, materialistic Imelda Marcos type who cares for nothing except playing mah-jongg and who looks old enough to be his mother. His children don't relate to him and so in order to “find himself” he needs to go back to Manila and see if life would be better for him there. Ok, I can believe this, but then the scene of him in Manila lasts all of 5 minutes, and somehow he hooks up with a women who was an acquaintance of his wife’s and who, as far as I was led to understood was stuck back in America. So how, did she suddenly come to be in Manila and in the very same bar? He comes back to the U.S. with her, intending to get married and bring his son back with them to live in Manila. In the interim, his teenaged daughter has had a child and is still with the teenaged boy who is the father of her baby and so now she's calmer and more responsible. The unlikely fact that the boy would still be with her, and the way the director makes it seem like the otherwise strict father just accepts this, just annoyed the hell out of me. AND, furthermore, what is this notion that once women have babies they "settle down"? I expected a little more from a female director and so my disappointment runs deep.

In spite of everything, I watched the movie to the end, and although most of the time, I was saying "give me a break" I did shed a little tear in the end. I thought the actors did the best they could with the story and while some of the acting was better than others, none of them did all that badly. In my opinion, this movie is not a comedy like the blurb says, nor is it about food and cooking, nor do we get a real sense of what it’s like to be Filipino in America. For all it's cliché and melodrama this is more like a soap opera than a movie.

Written by Deb on November 19, 2003 03:16 PM