As a woman, I found watching director Real Florido’s latest romance, Everything About My Wife, deeply unsettling.
From the outset, its characters — adapted from the 2008 Argentine rom-com A Boyfriend For My Wife, which itself has seen several adaptations worldwide — reek of misogyny, turning even the film’s zaniest one-liners and most romantic beats into a chore to sit through.
The film centers around Dom (Dennis Trillo), an architect who quickly jumps into a relationship with an opinionated woman named Imo (Jennylynn Mercado). After seven years of marriage, Dom is fed up with Imo’s constant nagging. But, instead of, oh, I don’t know, maybe talking to his wife about his feelings or seeking out a counselor, he decides the best solution to his marital problems is to convince Miguel (Sam Milby), a certified ladies’ man, to seduce his wife so that he has a reason to break things off with her. I call classic male bullshit.
Dom’s toxicity doesn’t immediately sink in, and I think this is unfortunately because most of the movie (written by Hello, Love, Goodbye writer Rona Co) is told through his perspective. Of course, it makes sense for a man to grow tired of his wife after seven years of marriage. Of course, no wife should ever grow to be such a nag. Of course, Dom is totally right in thinking that things need to end, but God forbid he be man enough to end things himself. Please read all of this in a sarcastic tone.
On her part, Imo really hasn’t done anything wrong, other than complain a lot. And who can blame her? Albeit subtly, Dom throws jabs at Imo’s choice to be a stay-at-home housewife. The two of them find themselves in a very realistic, long-term relationship rut. However, instead of fully exploring the tension between them with nuance, the film chooses to portray Imo as the problem and Dom as the poor, trapped husband. To make matters worse, Imo becomes little more than a conquest for Miguel, who’s less interested in her as a person and more obsessed with “winning” her over because she presents a challenge. At one point, the two men literally discuss her while playing a game of chess, because apparently, that’s all she is in this story: a pawn in a game between two men who think they know what’s best for her.
To Co’s credit as a screenwriter, Imo is given a degree of agency in navigating her relationships with both Dom and Miguel. But for most of the movie, Imo is only a little more developed than a superficial, two-dimensional plot device. She does have a strange subplot involving becoming a podcaster, but even then, this choice feels superficial. The movie also definitely fails the Bechdel test, seeing as Imo rarely interacts with the other female characters in the film. Besides, there are only two other women of note: Dom’s domineering mother-in-law Cecille (Carmi Martin), and his younger sister, Ciara (Alex Agustin).
It’s a shame that Florido (First ko si Third, Will You Be My Ex?) failed to utilize its stars to their fullest extent, especially Trillo and Mercado, who are married to each other and have a long, storied relationship. The onscreen chemistry between the two of them is undeniable, and the fights between them crackle with real emotion. What’s more, both of them are talented actors in their own right: Trillo recently won the Metro Manila Film Festival Best Actor Award for his performance in the 2024 prison drama Green Bones, while Mercado has twice won the festival’s Best Actress Award for her rom-com films, English Only, Please in 2014 and #WalangForever in 2015. However, even Mercado, who shines her brightest when she’s blending slapstick comedy with genuine poignancy, is held back here by a script that dulls both her comedic timing and emotional depth.
Dom eventually experiences a delayed redemption arc, and Imo does have some moments of clarity much later into the movie. But is enduring two hours of men objectifying a woman really worth it? Absolutely not.
