MMFF REVIEW: Sisterakas

Title: Sisterakas

Director: Wenn Deramas

Producer: Star Cinema and Viva Films

Distribution: Star Cinema and Viva Films

Date of premiere: December 25, 2012

Sisterakas works because its cast commits to its stupidity. This new Wenn Deramas movie recalls the days of stupid comedies, like Austin Powers or Scary Movie, where nothing is serious, not even the plot.

Sisterakas tells the story of two half-siblings named Totoy and Detty, who are into fashion. They are friends in childhood, but a family tiff made the two drift apart. Feeling abandoned, Totoy vows to bring down Detty's family.

Years later, Totoy (Vice Ganda) grows up to be a fashion magnate. The fashionable millionaire, however, still have not forgotten vengeance.

When Detty applies for a job in his company, Totoy is delighted. He makes her undergo several tortuous tasks, but Detty's sunny personality always lets her come out triumphant.

Now that Detty is under his hands, will Totoy continue his revenge plot? Or will family ties win out in the end?

What's delightful about Sisterakas is the countless gags that's on the screen at any given moment. Everything is over-the-top: the clothes and set design are very flamboyant, to the point of being garish.

Aside from the visual feast (or visual vomit), the movie also has a lot of humor, mostly coming from its brilliant cast.

A lot of movies have come from the Wenn Deramas-Vice Ganda team-up, but it is only in Sisterakas when I felt that the comedian was in his element. In his previous movies, his performances felt tied to a script, makinghis comedy suffers.

This time, Vice Ganda has been given free reign to do as he wants. You'd feel it in the way his quips are structured, because they are mostly about the actor or actress he is interacting with.

There's just too many too count, but the one I most remember is the scene where Kris Aquino was asking Daniel Matsunaga to sign a contract, and Vice Ganda quips about Kris's annulment. There's also the part where the two bragged about each other's endorsements.

What's good is that the other members of the cast are able to interact well with Vice Ganda. Kris Aquino, for one, shines here because she's willing to trade barbs with the comedian. She's also willing to make fun of herself, and that's always great to see.

Many funny moments also come from Ai-Ai delas Alas, and even from supporting cast member Joey Paras.

But the cast is the mere element that makes this movie more than tolerable. Like in all Wenn Deramas movies, the script is atrocious, chock-full of plotholes, and full of compromises.

The best symptom of this is how the film felt very engineered to gain an audience. There's the casting of a loveteam in Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, and the story of the two felt forced. There's also the casting of a kid in Xyriel Manabat, whose unnecessary to the movie.

All in all, the movie is funny, but only because the cast commits to how stupid it all is.

RATING: 3.5 stars out of 5
SUMMARY: It is funny, but praise the cast for that.