37. Jack Em Popoy - The Puliscredibles; movie review

JACK EM POPOY: THE PULISCREDIBLES
Cert 12A
115 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence

The early-year enthusiasm over the everyfilm challenge continues to be strong enough to inspire the second trip to Vue Cinema in Staines in just a fortnight.
Yes, that's right - a two-hour, 20-minute drive to watch Coco Martin in a Filipino comedy-drama Jack Em Popoy - The Puliscredibles.
And we had the cinema to ourselves. Not another soul attended the 1pm screening.
I can see why. This is is a movie with very few laughs and action which feels rather forced.
It is out of the same bracket as Fantastica which we watched a couple of weeks ago although not quite as surreal.
Martin plays a cocky senior detective who stirs up a well-established but rather laid back police department.
Vic Sotto is a long-standing officer whose career has been blighted by tragedy and is desperate to see a resolution to an ongoing investigation into a criminal family.
Meanwhile, his feisty daughter (Maine Mendoza) is also in the team and gradually warms to the new guy, sparking a romantic frisson.
The problem is that neither Mrs W nor I are tuned into the shouty style of Filipino comedies.
And neither do we find it particularly hilarious when men dress as women. We don't know whether this features in all Filipino movies but it certainly seems to be a theme with the ones we have watched.
Here, both Martin and Sotto don a dress even though they are hard-men cops.
This is part of their investigation tactics of a crimelord and his family who have a police officer on the payroll.
Meanwhile, there is a parallel plot which surrounds the long-lost father of Martin's character and the long-lost son of Sotto's (guess how that is going to turn out).
On the plus side, there is some half-decent action during Mike Tuviera's film, notably the first chase of the movie.
However, the comedy was far too unsubtle for us and, unlike during Fantastica, we didn't have the benefit of gauging the reaction of others in the audience.
To put it bluntly, it was a heck of a long way to go in order to see a movie which was so weak.

Reasons to watch: If you are a Coco Martin fan (there are many!)
Reasons to avoid: Its comedy is so terribly unsubtle

Laughs: One
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 3.5/10

Did you know? Coco Martin was initially attached to direct the movie, but due to directorial conflicts with the acclaimed television series Ang Probinsyano, who also had Martin as one of the directors. He dropped out and decided to be the producer instead.

The final word - Maine Mendoza: "Coco is very helpful and very professional because he is very meticulous in all the scenes. As I say, if it's possible to make everything perfect, to make sure there is no flaw in the scene, he'll do it. He is also a real gentleman. "

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