Vince & Kath & James (2016)

? STORY ?
The story of Vince & Kath & James is an overused formula that have been going on for centuries. Yet, the results are still amazing!
Vince & Kath & James talks about Kath, who has a crush on Vince's cousin, James. While Vince does harbor feelings for Kath, he hides it all too well with his carefree and teasing attitude, which makes Kath easily hate him. With this description, you can easily guess the trope used in this story- that's right, folks- it's the typical hate turns to love relationship.
While this is indeed a love story, I think this is a story of family as well. Kath is the sweet daughter who would do anything for her family (getting odd jobs and joining contests that awards money) while Vince is that sweet kid next door who feels indebted to his relatives (aunt, uncle and cousin James) and would do anything for them.

? ACTING/CAST ?
The choice for the main cast here is no question. "JoshLia" (the tandem of Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto) is rising in the Filipino industry, their rising popularity is of perfect use to this movie.
Like I said, I'm not a fan of love teams. However, JoshLia did make me smile more than once so I guess they did a good job in executing their roles. Let's talk about them individually.
Joshua Garcia plays Vince, a sweet and humorous guy who is also smart and hardworking. He's our prince charming in disguise in this story. What makes Vince a character worth rooting for is we actually don't know what he's about in the story. He's like this onion that has too many layers to peel, and while you slowly peel those layers, you can't help but cry. It's a strong statement and Garcia played the character perfectly. I especially love the part where he tears up, cause even I feel bad for him.
Now, let's talk about our leading lady, Julia Barretto. Barretto plays Kath, a hardworking fellow engineering student who shows us girl power. This girl does odd jobs and joins contest for money in order to help her family. She is strong and tough though she looks really pretty. To be honest, Kath is a character you can predict from the get go. But like how I complimented Garcia's job well done, I would like to commend Barretto's.
Kath showed all sorts of emotions throughout the movie- happy, sad, and angry. Yet, as good as Barretto portrayed those moments, that's not the reason why I like her. It's the times that Kath is silent and is just daydreaming or simply thinking or simply rambling on with no interest in her surroundings that made me like her. Because at that moment, with her eyes sparkling, I felt that Kath is so real and vulnerable. Barretto did a job well done on that.
If anyone's curious on who's playing James, it's Ronnie Alonte. Now, to start with, I have no idea that this dude is in the acting business as well. I thought he was just a singer/dancer, but no, he's acting. This made me easily dismiss his character, which I immediately regretted in the end.
Alonte plays varsity player/jock James, who doesn't do well on school and only has basketball to take pride on. In spite of this, James is a really good guy who makes Kath happy, though he fails to do that sometimes because of basketball, which he gives majority of his time on. Let me start praising the director for casting Alonte as James. Just looking at him, he really does suit his role. He just gives off this natural vibe of being the hotshot basketball MVP
These three young stars (although young and still starting) have done a pretty good job in their roles. Their performance is really good

? MUSIC ?
I downloaded every single song this movie has! It's so sweet and soothing. I honestly have no words for it.
As cheesy as it may sound, "Hey Crush" has become my favorite. The song is about someone professing his love to his crush, and it's just so innocent and nice that I play that song each and every time. I honestly think that that song is made for Vince's character.
Then there's Dapit Hapon, quite a melodious song that has a slow tempo and lonely vibe into it. I can say that this song is the deal breaker. The movie comprised mostly of upbeat songs, so you can guess my surprise when I heard this song playing. Nevertheless, it is a sweet song :)

? REWATCH VALUE ?
I would probably replay this movie again if I ever get bored or just miss Vince's cute lines. Did I mention Vince's lines? They're honestly so romantic and to-die for!

? OVERALL ?
This movie uses the overused love formula of penpals, love-hate relationships and family drama. Nevertheless, it did use it right and it did have the viewers swooning in the end <3

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6 words rom com cuteness overload

This movie was just so much fun to watch, I am not going to say it had much new to offer but it does have a lovely combination of fun tropes, bickering, friendship, romance... Some drama here and there, an odd scene about a circumcision... Ok so it has some new things to offer... this is simply a lovely love trieangle movie with mostly lovable characters who are entertaining to watch, interesting, mostly smart and have the amazing ability to say a lot in just 6 words.

Just a heads up: The second male lead does however do some questionable stuff that did not get the attention they needed, drawing down the score just a bit for this otherwise highly entertaining rom-com.

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