Mamarazzi is a funny but mediocre movie

The supreme talents of Eugene Domingo and John Lapus were not able to save the movie Mamarazzi from the quagmire of mediocrity. The movie is funny because Domingo has a genuine talent for making people laugh. Some of her scenes with Lapus are hilarious but these are not enough because the major, major problem of the movie is the awful scriptwriting and bad directing. Watching this movie is a waste of time and money. Produced by Regal Films, the film is directed by Joel Lamangan and written by Ricky Lee and Chris Violado. It is sad to note that Lamangan and Lee are veterans in making films and yet, there is so little intelligence in Mamarazzi. It is nothing but Regal Film’s latest venture into profit-making, without any regard at all for decent filmmaking. Domingo plays the character of Violy, the owner of a funeral parlor who also does the make-up of the corpses. First of all, I don’t understand what is funny about owning a funeral parlor and doing the dignified job of a mortuary beautician. Second, I cannot see the logical connection between Domingo’s character as a funeral parlor owner to the rest of the plot. If she was a fish vendor or even a doctor, would it make the story different? Is there a connection between her job as a beautician to the dead and being a mamarazzi? There must be a reason why she was a mortuary beautician in the first place, but this is not clear in the movie, an indication of sloppy writing. When the beautician discovers from her doctor that she needs a hysterectomy, she decides to have a child first before submitting herself to the operation. The problem is, she has no husband nor a boyfriend because, if we follow the film’s logic, she is ugly. And so her gay friend Mandy who is also the barangay chairman, played by Lapus, helps her. When they find it difficult to get a man to impregnate Violy, Mandy hits on a brilliant idea—he volunteers to be the sperm donor. One of the few real funny scenes in this movie is when Violy and Mandy try to have sex. Of course they cannot do it; they would rather die than have sex with each other. Mandy hatches another brilliant plan: his boyfriend Carlo (Diether Ocampo) needs money. He convinces Violy to get impregnated by Carlo so that the two of them will become the mothers of the baby. Of course, Violy will have to pay Carlo for his services. During the big night, nothing happens. Instead, Violy catches Carlo stealing her money. Depressed, Violy goes out and finds herself a waiter who impregnates her. The waiter also steals her money and jewelry. Violy gives birth to cute triplets—a boy and two girls. Being funny Paying for sex with straight men is a delicate subject, so I would like to believe that in this movie, it is the ironic humor that works to make this phenomenon funny. One thing I like about Mamarazzi is that it underscores the importance of friendship between gays and fag hags. Violy and Mandy learn to survive in this cruel world because they have each other. But the ending of the film, where Carlo goes back to Violy and asks for forgiveness, is more of an illusion than anything else. Violy and Carlo getting married at the end of the movie is the real farce. What is disappointing about comedy (not the Aristotelian definition of the term) movies in the Philippines is the use of slapstick and toilet humor. Many directors and actors think that making fun of an ugly face or a person’s physical characteristics (too fat or too thin or too black or too white) is funny. The same is true with being gay and cross-dressing. To make the characters fart is also funny to them. This is so naïve, so brainless, so artless, so pre-theoretical, and so politically incorrect. But sadly, this is the tasteless tradition in Philippine movies made popular by the supposed pillars of comedy productions like Dolphy and Joey de Leon, and the practice is being continued by Ai-Ai de las Alas and Pokwang. In Mamarazzi, Domingo’s “ugly" face was made the butt of jokes. I put ugly in quotation marks because Domingo is only ugly when your idea of what is beautiful is Western, meaning the shallow criteria used in beauty contests like Miss Universe or Miss World. To my horror, Lapus was made to fart in a supposedly heavy dramatic scene to remind the audience that, hey, this is a comedy film so you should laugh! This movie insulted the talents of two brilliant actors who can be funny by just using their verbal wits. Money trip I once heard the phrase “money trip" from a middle-aged actress who was once a bankable star during her childhood and teenage years. She was being interviewed in a talk show on television about her “comeback" and her second or third chance in showbiz. She said what she regretted most about her career as an actress was doing films at the height of her stardom only for money. “Money trip lang talaga, wala akong pakialam kung maganda ang script o hindi, o kung matino ang pelikula," she said. I really hope this will not happen to Eugene Domingo, who is now the most bankable star in Philippine showbiz. She has three regular TV shows in two TV channels. It is also rumored that she is the highest paid actress now. I hope she will be more careful in choosing film projects, and accept only those that will respect and give justice to her supreme acting talent. I hope that Eugene Domingo will not let the profit vultures in showbiz treat her like “a goose that lays the golden eggs." After all, when she can no longer deliver profits, the vultures will surely be after her luscious flesh and we will forever lose such a fabulous and excellent comedienne. – YA, GMANews.TV