This was the last movie that the actor Rico Yan ever made.  It was released on February 27, 2002.  Only a month later (March 29, 2002) Rico Yan died in his sleep.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, this movie introduces us to the concept of the love team (i.e., an actor and an actress who are romantically involved with one another play a man and a woman who are romantically involved with one another in the movie).  This concept is long passé in American movies (you would have to go back to Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn to find such an example) but it is alive and well in the Filipino cinema.

The movie tells the story of Toni who is a perpetual bridesmaid and Lorenz who is a wedding photographer.  They keep running into each other because Lorenz keeps getting hired to take wedding photos and Toni keeps getting asked to be a bridesmaid.  Lorenz always seems to capture Toni's embarrassing moments during the wedding, and to make matters worse, he frequently publishes these shots in the local wedding magazines.  After one of Toni's particularly embarrassing episodes is captured on film by Lorenz, Toni claims that she hates him.

But Toni has a bigger problem.  According to her older sister who is an old maid, their family is cursed.  If Toni doesn't find a husband by the age of twenty-five then she will forever remain single.  Toni's twenty-fifth birthday is rapidly approaching.  Yikes!  Toni works as a wedding designer (shades of the movie The Wedding Planner starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey).  She develops a crush on her boss but her hopes are soon dashed when she finds out that her boss is in love with her best friend.  It seems that Toni can't catch a break.

Lorenz's boss accidentally discovers some of the shots that he did of Toni and she comes up with the idea of doing a story about a woman who is always the bridesmaid, never the bride.  Lorenz tracks Toni down and tries to interest her in the project but Toni rebuffs him.  It is only when he promises to find her the boyfriend of her dreams in exchange for her cooperation, that she reluctantly agrees to go along with the project.  What follows is a hilarious string of dates from Hell that Toni must suffer through.  Lorenz tries his best to find a compatible date for Toni but the guy he picks always turns out to have the wrong chemistry.  In one of the scenes Toni and her blind date go bowling only Toni doesn't know how to bowl.  She winds up to release the bowling ball only her fingers get stuck and she goes careening down the lane with ball in hand.  Strike!  I must admit I laughed my ass off at that one even though it was rather childish slapstick comedy.

But of course, I'm sure you've guessed the plot by now.  As the disastrous dates mount, Toni begins to fall for Lorenz and vice versa.  But Lorenz feels obligated to fulfill his part of the bargain.  After all, a deal is a deal.  Finally, as a last resort, he contacts an acquaintance named Perry who has just returned to the Philippines after studying abroad at Harvard.  He arranges a date between Perry and Toni, but as they begin getting to know one another Lorenz suffers pangs of jealousy.  Soon Perry and Toni announce their engagement and begin to make wedding plans.  Now it is Lorenz who is made to suffer.

Lorenz visits Toni at her job and without thinking kisses her.  But he is too caught up in his own feelings to tell her the truth, that he loves her.  Toni, not knowing what to think, confronts Lorenz later and asks him what the meaning of the kiss was.  Again, Lorenz cannot bring himself to admit the truth and he makes up some excuse by saying this is what guys do.  Now Toni is completely confused.  She feels sad inside and soon her relationship with Perry begins to deteriorate.  She tells him that the wedding is off.  Perry is devastated.

When Lorenz finds out that Toni and Perry cancelled their wedding, he is shocked.  He confronts Toni and asks her why.  She doesn't tell him.  It is only now that Lorenz has the courage to reveal his true feelings towards Toni.  He proposes marriage and she agrees.  The ending scene shows their wedding.  Toni, after many trials and tribulations, has finally become a bride.

This movie is bitter-sweet.  It is obvious that Claudine Barretto and Rico Yan have a thing going, but the love scenes are made poignant by that fact that we, the audience, know that Rico will soon be dead even though the actors in the film can't possibly know that.  The language in the film is a mixture of Tagalog and English which could properly be called Taglish.  The actors switch constantly between the two languages which can be annoying at times to pure English speakers.  I suppose this represents the true state of conversations among the upper classes of the metro Manila area.  This was one of the few romantic comedies that I have seen among Filipino films and it is by far the best.  I really enjoyed this movie.  I thought Claudine Barretto was hilarious in the role of Toni.  I give it three stars.

Last note: I purchased this movie from Regal Films in California.  They have added some trailers at the end of the movie which show Rico and Claudine singing together along with some cast interviews which were done during the filming.  It's sad to know that Rico won't be doing any more interviews, ever.