Yes, I saw it. Shut up.

Didn’t I mention before that I am a KathNiel fan? Also this was part of a long-planned back-to-back bad movie day with Abby – I originally wanted to see it with Step Up All In but I balked at the thought of watching it alone. Yes, I liked KathNiel but I needed moral support to sit through the whole thing.

Here’s my round-up of Star Cinema’s romantic film queen Cathy Garcia-Molina’s (One More Chance and My Amnesia Girl) adaptation of best selling wattapad story She’s Dating the Gangster.

Please note that there may be spoilers.  Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

Kenneth Delos Reyes (Daniel Padilla) has a troubled relationship with his father Kenji (Richard Gomez. Kenneth blames his dad for the untimely demise of his mother, because she somehow lost the will to live after confirming that her husband is still in love with Athena (Dawn Zulueta), a mysterious woman from his past. When the flight that Kenji is on becomes missing, Kenneth meets Kelay Dizon (Kathryn Bernardo), Athena’s niece, who is also searching for his dad. Together they unearth the history between Athena and Kenji and grow closer in the process.

THE GOOD:

1. The chemistry. Say what you will but the chemistry between the leads is just smack-dab adorable and kilig-worthy.
2. The parents from the flashbacks, Arnold Reyes as Athena’s dad and the great Rio Locsin as Abigail’s mom. Considering the extremely short screen time, they delivered some pretty powerful performances.
3. The story actually (sort of) made sense. Well, more sense than Ang Diary Ng Panget anyways. I’m sure they changed a lot of things from the source material, but in this case the change only helped make everything more cohesive.
4. That gorgeous backdrop of the Mayon volcano. Makes me want to go to Bicol all the more!
5. #MedyoBadBoy #MedyoLang. It was a great source of joy to both Abby and myself to point out just how un-gangsterly Kenji was. There was a scene where him and his crew vandalized a wall with water-based pens. The pool hall they hang out in is also somehow completely devoid of cigarette smoke and beer bottles.

THE BAD:

1. Kelay as a character only because we know next to nothing about her. Okay, so she’s the niece. And then?
2. Too man unbelievable things happening. I get that we’re supposed to suspend our disbelief and all, but two girls with the same name in the same school both have terminal diseases?
3. The missing plane referrence. Too soon, people. Too soon.
4. The outfits in the flashbacks. I may have been only a kid during the nineties but I remember people dressing differently. This is how someone who didn’t live in the time period imagines how people in the nineties looked like, without bothering to research and validate.

THE UGLY:

1. That the story is somehow the Filipino equivalent of Twilight. I hate that everything revolved around a man’s love and that people in the story literally lost their wills to live because of unrequited romance. Come on, what kind of a story is that???
2. What, no kiss??? I don’t think I’ve ever walked out of a movie theater full of sexually frustrated watchers. Haha. Personally I loved it that they stretched out the last scene only to have it fade abruptly into the credits. I could hear the people groan in frustration.

All in all She’s Dating the Gangster is an okay movie, as far as these type of films go. Adapting internet stories into movies seem like the next big thing in Philippine movies and Star Cinema knows how to do it right. The story makes sense (sort of) and the performances and the cameos from the supporting cast are more than enough to make it worth your while. But who am I kidding – you won’t watch this for the story or the awesome performances from the other actors; you’d watch this for the KathNiel.

THE VERDICT: 5/10. Probably not worth the trip to the movie house, unless you’re watching it with someone extremely fun.

*All photos are lifted from the film’s wikipedia and official page.