Name any entertainment medium, and Vice Ganda has likely conquered it: TV, movies, and the concert stage. I’m just not sure about radio, but he’s now invaded the streaming platforms. Netflix is currently showcasing his films, all of them box office hits during their theatrical runs. It’s good business sense for that platform to lure his fan base.
As a TV personality, Vice Ganda’s quick wit and zingers have helped rack impressive audience ratings for It’s Showtime, the noontime variety program he hosts. I enjoy his brief interviews with contestants in the show’s final portion, Tawag ng Tanghalan. He turns it into an engaging mini talk show.
Sometimes, however, his authentic self and spontaneity can lead to risqué punchlines of the sleazy comedy bar type. But the enthusiasm never wavers.
His film career has also been a great success. Previous movies were designed to showcase his comedic talents and razor-sharp wit. As written, the roles are extensions of his public persona. With his dry sense of humor and irony (a rare trait in Philippine cinema), he elevates an unfunny movie and turns it into box office gold.
The formula, however, was becoming a predictable fill-in-the-blanks mix of sketches, gags, and parades of youthful Star Magic players, who serve to entice teenage audiences. His natural flair for comedy also gets somewhat hampered by mediocre scripts written by somebody else.
The star’s two most recent films present Vice Ganda in a different light. It took writer-director Jun Robles Lana, master of the art of making LGBTQ-themed films, to bring out the serious actor in him.
I’ve streamed some of the films. As earlier mentioned, the older ones leave much to be desired. This first movie on the list is typical of what he starred in.
The Mall, the Merrier (2019)
A reason to watch this comedy is to have a final glimpse of one of the country’s first giant shopping malls, Harrison Plaza. Reportedly, The Mall, the Merrier was filmed here before it was demolished.
In the movie, Harrison Plaza is cast as the fictional Tamol Mall. Once a grand family destination, it’s now in decay and losing business to newer and more fashionable shopping havens.
The plot belatedly gets moving when the owners, an elderly married couple, perish in a plane crash. Their two children (Vice Ganda and Anne Curtis) start feuding over ownership.
This movie had a huge budget, and it shows on the screen. It’s an elaborate production, so it’s a shame that not much was spent on a good script. Instead, somebody was paid to pen a screenplay with blatant references to Hollywood and Bollywood films. Call it a tribute or call it shameless imitation, it’s still clearly unoriginal. Perhaps it was assumed the target audience hadn’t seen The Devil Wears Prada or Angels in America.
It is sporadically funny, but to get to those rare moments, you’ll have to sit through shrill mugging by most of the supporting cast and background actors. As usual, they’re in on the joke. Nothing feels unplanned as they act cute and contort their faces. They can’t be blamed entirely. They do what they can to make the dated gags—which do little to move the story—look remotely amusing.
It’s best they study the comedies from other Asian countries whose actors deliver the laughs by playing it straight. But perhaps it was the director’s intention to make a farce. It probably looked good on blueprint. The final product just doesn’t cut it.
Partners in Crime (2022)
This isn’t a sequel to The Mall the Merrier, but it’s written and directed in the same style. Like the previous movie, the cast acts as if they were in a TVC for a consumer product. The name of the game is hard-selling punchlines and exaggerated gestures. Everything is done too broadly.
To director Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s credit, she makes Partners in Crime more watchable—or bearable—than the one about the old shopping mall.
The partners in the story are Jack (Vice Ganda) and Barbara (Ivana Alawi). The two meet in a bingo game with Jack doing emcee duties. They become best friends working together in various professions; door-to-door car washing, children’s party clowning, and beauty pageant hosting. They find their footing in the latter. TV stardom comes within reach when a network producer discovers and hires them to host a new show. It later turns out it’s only Jack she wants. The partnership is thus bitterly dissolved.
The earlier scenes with Jack as a struggling bingo game host in a provincial town are interesting. Vice Ganda wears almost no makeup, his hair is short and naturally black. He actually looks very fine.
The earlier scenes with Jack as a struggling bingo game host in a provincial town are interesting. Vice Ganda wears almost no makeup
As embittered ex-partner Barbara, Ivana Alawi is cute and spunky. She holds her own against the film’s star. Or she can easily keep up with him in the flamboyance department without having to screech like Anne Curtis did in the mall movie.
The flamboyance in Partners in Crime is over-the-top. This sounds redundant, but in this case it’s not! The movie made me crave for a never-ending Lav Diaz film. I just want to stare at it—to gaze at nothing. It’s either that, or a brooding Charles Bronson epic with minimal dialogue.
And the Bread Winner Is…(2024)
With this comedy-drama, Jun Robles Lana gives Vice Ganda a meaty role that stretches both his comedic and dramatic chops. He plays an OFW who comes home to his hometown in Pampanga after 10 years of working in Taiwan. He learns that the money he’d been remitting to his younger siblings has been misspent. They’re still poor despite the sacrifices he has made abroad.
The film jumps from one plotline to another; it begins with a long but upbeat segment in Taiwan where Vice Ganda does backbreaking work. He gets to showcase his comedic shtick here. But this really isn’t about life as an OFW in Taiwan. It moves on to a case of mistaken identity, and on to a nefarious insurance scheme, and then to a disease-of the-week drama, and also a love team romance.
As with many family dramas, And the Breadwinner Is… is saddled with long speeches. But what puts it above the Seven Sundays genre is realistic dialogue, expertly delivered by the cast. The final confrontation, when Vice Ganda tells off his ungrateful siblings, is done with transcendent intensity. The co-stars are given time to shine by reacting to Vice Ganda’s lengthy tirade. No words, just nuanced acting.
Movies of this type tend to have too many characters. This means more side stories and scenes that detract from the main protagonist’s storyline. The result is a cluttered movie, disjointed story arcs, and endless denouements. For instance, the insurance scam plotline is hurriedly resolved with just a single line of dialogue. It plays like an afterthought.
And unless the mother had strayed, none of the siblings look alike. For one, Vice Ganda is very tall, but the other actors aren’t that tall. They’re played by Eugene Domingo, Jhong Hilario, Kokoy de Santos, and Maris Racal. But through their own artistry, they make us believe they’re brothers and sisters.
Call Me Mother (2025)
Of course, after the success of And the Bread Winner is…, Jun Robles Lana and Vice Ganda just had to reteam for another comedy-drama.
In Call Me Mother, Vice Ganda plays Twinkle, a beauty contestant coach. He’s forced to adopt the illegitimate baby of a student (Nadine Lustre), a serial beauty contest participant and perennial runner-up. Single mothers are usually disqualified from joining competitions.
Viewers get to see Twinkle struggle as a single parent while also supporting his siblings (sounds familiar?). It’s predictable, but I like the earnest way it’s been written. The shift from comedy to drama isn’t too jarring.
One important element is the excellent rapport between Vice Ganda and Lucas Andalio. The talented boy plays the adopted son at 9 years old, though Lucas seems much younger. He has an expressive face that can switch emotions in a snap. Line delivery is typical of most Filipino child actors (speaking in a cadence that sounds like class recitation). This isn’t the child’s fault, but I know an acting coach who can easily fix that. Still, young Lucas is charming in every scene he’s in.
As with And the Bread Winner is…, it takes a while before the actual story gets moving. But this is a more focused film. Lana wisely refrained from having a potpourri of Star Magic actors. A handful of them are there but thankfully, there’s no love team that could have thrown the film off its steady rhythm.
Viewers may think this newer film lacks the intensity of the previous one. On the contrary, Vice Ganda gives a more restrained but equally effective performance. A war of words with lovely Nadine Lustre serves as the film’s epic climax. It’s as well-crafted and acted as any dramatic scene I’ve seen in my lifetime.
This is Vice Ganda’s best role yet because he gets to play a realistic character. He doesn’t do a star turn or a signature performance. He just does what’s right for the role.
He works well with seasoned actress Chanda Romero. As a social worker, she doesn’t play for laughs. The camp comes courtesy of Carmi Martin. She plays it to the hilt as Nadine Lustre’s contemptuous stage mother. Vice Ganda generously lets her dominate their scene together. It’s too bad Jun Lana didn’t give her any more screen time. She and Vice could make a good team.
As for Jun Lana, he’s written and directed better movies, but Call Me Mother is still an accomplished work. He’s raised the bar for this type of movie, and for Vice Ganda.
