Everyone has an opinion about the Filipino rom-com.
On one side of the spectrum, you have the genre loyalists who are more than happy to line up at cinemas (or binge-stream a movie marathon at home) to support their chosen love teams. These are the moviegoers who appreciate a hugot scene, are unafraid to scream when they see something kilig onscreen, and would fight tooth and nail for a selfie with their favorite leading men and women at a meet-and-greet. This may be an over-exaggeration, but the rom-com genre revels in hyperbole.
These same moviegoers have also fueled the box office success of Filipino rom-coms. In 2024, Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s Hello, Love, Again took home P1.6 billion worldwide and has since been deemed the highest-grossing Filipino film of all time.
On the other side of the spectrum, however, you have audiences who avoid Filipino rom-coms at all costs, deeming them formulaic, flat, or worst of all, bakya. There is some truth to these complaints: more than a few of our rom-coms follow the same tropes and storylines, and quite a few perpetuate problematic themes of cheating, abuse, and questionable behavior overall.
As someone who tends to fall into the first camp of rom-com devotees, I don’t think the genre deserves the bad rep that it gets. Not every rom-com has to break the mold (although some of them do), and most of them were made to be easy, nostalgic comfort watches that we can turn to when we just need to spend two hours rooting for two people to get together.
What’s more, there have been more than enough Filipino movies that have played with the genre since the start of the century. From calm, banter-centric rom-coms like Antoinette Jadaone’s That Thing Called Tadhana to campy, kilig-heavy flicks like Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s She’s Dating the Gangster, the last 26 years have seen the rom-com rise, decline, and go completely off-script.
To pay homage to the genre, we’ve rounded up 26 of the most memorable rom-coms of the 21st century. Titles only needed to have been released in Philippine cinemas between 2000 and 2025 and be officially listed as a “romance” and “comedy” (not one or the other). Romantic dramas don’t count (we’re looking at you, One More Chance and Endo). As we look back on all the love stories that local filmmakers brought to the silver screen, it’s clear that rom-coms — their love triangles, their flirty one-liners, and their hopeful takes on love saving the day — are here to stay.
‘I’m Drunk, I Love You’
Oh, to be in love with your best friend.
I’m Drunk, I Love You (2017) breaks many of the conventions of its Filipino rom-com predecessors. Yes, it does have a very rom-com premise — college student Carson (Maja Salvador) has been hopelessly in love with her best friend Dio (Paulo Avelino) for the last seven years — but its charm lies in its non-romantic moments, from the two friends bickering over bagnet to them drunkenly deciding their futures based on a game of iPod shuffle. Even at its angstiest (and yes, there’s a lot of angst on Carson’s part), I’m Drunk, I Love You continues to be hopeful that the two figure out their feelings for each other. And when Johnoy Danao starts singing the first lines of “Burnout” in that final scene, you can’t help but hope for them, too. —Mel Wang
Where to watch: Netflix
‘Vince & Kath & James’
Vince & Kath & James (2016) is based on a marvel known as the textserye — a story that, as its name suggests, is told through a series of text messages. At first, the film’s origins threaten to overtake cohesion as the initial landian happens on-screen through text messaging. It can be quite a strain in the eyes to sift through all that text, but the film thankfully decides to let the love story tell itself without the aid of the millennial’s preferred mode of communication.
From then on, Vince & Kath & James follows the usual thread of a romantic comedy, short of resigning itself to the conventional. Magic happens when an old formula is given a new spin and to watch it on a Star Cinema film is an absolute joy. Joshua Garcia, through his unholy mix of John Lloyd Cruz and Rico Yan, buoys the emotional center of the film. His Vince is a vulnerable torpe, a sensitive romantic tortured by his failure to express his feelings to Kath (Julia Barretto, who seems to have taken tips from her aunt Claudine Barretto circa early 2000s) and chained by his responsibilities and inability to say no to his best friend of a cousin, James (Ronnie Alonte, who mostly functions as eye candy).
The film is best approximated by one of its songs, “O Pag-ibig,” a lighthearted bop chronicling the mental and physical turbulence experienced by someone in love. It suggests that the process of intimacy, though a dangerous adventure for the spineless, is often a hilarious submission to the folly of youth, best experienced with a set of friends who is just as foolish and courageous as you are. —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: YouTube
‘It Takes a Man and a Woman’
Laida (Sarah Geronimo) has made a name for herself in New York’s publishing scene, morphing from a shy editorial assistant to a cutthroat editor who doesn’t take bullshit from anyone. Well, except if you’re Miggy (John Lloyd Cruz), her longtime boyfriend who had the audacity to cheat on her while she was away for work. The couple broke up, but now that Laida has returned to Manila to help save Miggy’s dying magazine, old tensions are rising to the surface.
Like many of the rom-coms that came before it, It Takes a Man and a Woman (2013) requires its audience to be comfortable with men cheating and women looking the other way (“Boys will be boys”). This issue looms large over Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s 2013 AshLloyd feature, but both Cruz and Geronimo do such an effective job of butting heads (they’re essentially locked in a diva-off for the first two acts) and proving that both their characters have changed for the better, that you almost forget about Miggy’s wandering eye. Almost. —Mel Wang
Where to steam: Netflix
‘This Guy’s in Love with U, Mare’
A scorned lover is always better than a lover who was just left for… God? Lester (Vice Ganda) is in despair as Mike (Luis Manzano) leaves him on their third anniversary dinner, saying that he had changed religion, which forbids same-sex relationships. Days later, Lester learns that Mike has left him for Gemma (Toni Gonzaga). After finding out that Mike has proposed to Gemma, Lester hatches a plan to make Gemma fall in love with him so Mike will fall in love with him again.
This Wenn V. Deramas romp is mostly unhinged comedy (the split-screen comparison of the Vice Ganda fight scene and the Vilma Santos Darna is crazy), but Lester’s undying love for Mike is recognizable, and the way Gemma and Lester’s “romance” is Deramas and co-screenwriters Mel Mendoza-Del Rosario and Keiko Aquino working their way through a meta-narrative where lines and circumstances pay homage to iconic films, from the aforementioned Darna vs the Planet Women to the kabit megahit No Other Women. Vice Ganda cosplaying as a straight guy might not be everyone’s choice of rom-com but This Guy’s in Love with U, Mare (2012) is the quintessential tale of a gay man yearning for the potential love of their life. Vice Ganda delivers, cracks jokes like his life depends on it but succeeds in showing us who the right man for Gemma is — it’s him. Not Mike. —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: YouTube
‘She’s the One’
In She’s the One (2013), despite having once engaged in a steamy session of “tonsil hockey,” best friends Cat (Bea Alonzo) and Wacky (Dingdong Dantes) have never properly gotten together. Wacky’s completely fine with that, and so is Cat, more or less. She’s pretty much resigned herself to being heartbroken for life as she watches her best friend continue to pursue women who aren’t her.
But things shake up for Cat when handsome stranger David (Enrique Gil) spots her looking hot and sexy while changing a flat tire in the middle of the pouring rain. Not knowing who she is, David ends up snapping a video of Cat and posting it online, asking the internet to help him find his dream woman (yes, creepy, I know, but there’s a reason David isn’t the main love interest in She’s the One). —Mel Wang
Where to stream: Netflix, YouTube
‘Bride for Rent’
Mae Cruz-Alviar’s Bride For Rent (2014)presents audiences with a classic nepo baby problem: in order to claim his trust fund, Rocco (Xian Lim) hires aspiring actress Rocky (Kim Chiu) to be his bride. However, his grandmother Lala (Pilita Corrales) sees right through Rocco’s scheme, and commissions her new “granddaughter-in-law” to play Rocco at his own game.
As one of the campier rom-coms on this list, Bride For Rent comes with slapstick bits and one-liners in spades (“Yak, basa kilikili mo” is a crazy thing to say to the love of your life). Chemistry-wise, Chiu knows exactly how to play a bubbly, young girl with the biggest crush on her fake husband, and Lim is just as effective as someone who’s slowly starting to realize that he’s in too deep. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: Netflix, YouTube
‘She’s Dating the Gangster’
For many Filipino romantics coming of age in the mid-aughts, She’s Dating the Gangster (2014) (and, well, perhaps most KathNiel projects) defined a specific era of the rom-com genre for us.
Although director Cathy Garcia-Sampana gives us two storylines featuring KathNiel, the movie’s core is its flashbacks to the lives of nerdy highschooler Athena (Kathryn Bernardo) and campus bad boy Kenji (Daniel Padilla). The two pretend to be dating to help Kenji get back at his ex-girlfriend (who is also named Athena — read into that what you will), but of course they end up falling in love with each other. Bernardo and Padilla lean into their respective high school stereotypes with comedic precision, but they still manage to find a way to sneak in those stolen looks and fleeting touches that their fans once so fiercely craved. But those carefully laid romantic building blocks come crashing down when tragedy strikes in the movie’s second act. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: Netflix, YouTube
‘Ex Ex Lovers’
Although JP Habac’s Ex Ex Lovers (2025) does run the risk of seeming like nostalgia-bait, the chemistry between Jolina Magdangal and Marvin Agustin makes it significantly more forgivable.
As the former love team behind some of the best rom-coms of the late ‘90s (ahem, Labs Kita… Okey Ka Lang? and Kung Ayaw Mo, Huwag Mo!), Magdangal and Agustin are no strangers to selling an onscreen romance. But Ex Ex Lovers adds a twist to the pair’s old formula: Joy (Magdangal) and Ced (Agustin) have long been separated, and the only reason they reunite is because Joy wants to break up their daughter’s engagement. Much of the film’s comedy leans into slapstick territory, which eases the weight of an otherwise heavy plotline (the Philippines’ lack of divorce can be bleak, after all). And on the side of romance, Magdangal and Agustin seem to revel in stretching the will-they-won’t-they tension between them. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: Netflix
‘Got 2 Believe’
It’s hard to believe that in 2002, being unmarried at 25 was considered rock bottom. But such is the plight of Toni (Claudine Barretto), a 24 year-old wedding planner who suffers from Perpetual Bridesmaid Syndrome. Toni is one crash-out away from accepting that she’ll be single forever, until she meets Lorenz (Rico Yan), a commitment-averse photographer who doesn’t believe in forever. Lorenz eventually ends up helping Toni find the “man of her dreams” (with much difficulty: think of the “Para kang vacuum cleaner” fight), but the two end up falling for each other in the process. While a little on the formulaic side, director Olivia Lamasan’s Got 2 Believe (2002) still remains one of those easy rom-com comfort watches you can turn to when dating isn’t going your way. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Kung Ako Na Lang Sana’
At first glance, Sharon Cuneta’s and Aga Muhlach’s characters don’t seem like they’d be best friends, let alone lovers. Emmy (Cuneta) is an ambitious furniture exporter with little time for the messiness of romance, while Vince (Muhlach) is a classic playboy and nepo baby.
But best friends they are, and when Vince finally enters a serious relationship, Emmy discovers that she’s had feelings for him all along. Kung Ako Na Lang Sana (2003), written and directed by Jose Javier Reyes, relies heavily on its meticulously scripted dialogue and the sharp banter between Cuneta and Muhlach, making it one of those rom-coms that rewards close attention if you want to catch every joke and zinger. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Rookie’
The milieu of Rookie (2023) emerges from the confusing world of middle adolescence, where a tomboyish teen like Ace (Pat Tingjuy in a breakout role) can feel both small and exposed at the same time.
Ace usually likes basketball; she feels at home on the court, but when she transfers to an all-girls Catholic school, she discovers that there’s no basketball team. Instead, she is thrust into the world of volleyball when the coach urges her to try out. Romance breaks through in a villains-to-lovers trope involving the team’s captain (Aya Fernandez), who first sees Ace as a threat but develops something deeper when they go through volleyball camp together.
Rookie is Lee’s follow-up to the award-winning Billie and Emma, which, in some ways, treads the same coming-of-age territory. But Rookie is more specific, tackling a sensitive issue that is not usually discussed openly. Volleyball remains a top-drawing sport in the Philippines, though not as big as basketball. The sport has its icons (one of whom appears in the movie), and the softness of the queer lens Lee uses to home in on gender and women’s issues makes for a sobering yet still romantic watch. Tingjuy is a discovery, and to witness queer love in bloom in such bright colors “out in the open, in broad daylight,” as Lee put it, is a welcome depiction of sapphic love. Best seen in a theater full of romantics. —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: Amazon Prime Video
‘My Only Ü’
Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s My Only Ü (2008) starts off with a sort of curse: the sharp-tongued and sassy Winona (Toni Gonzaga), like all the women in her family, is convinced that she won’t live to her 25th birthday. The curse, in all its morbid glory, seems to come true when she’s diagnosed with lupus, leading her best friend Bong (Vhong Navarro) to do anything he can to stay by the side of the woman he secretly loves. The two end up bickering a lot and making a number of questionable decisions, but the love between them is never in doubt (let me refer you to Bong’s macho dancing segment). —Mel Wang
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Diary ng Panget’
Viva did Nadine Lustre so dirty with that acne makeup, but it makes sense, considering how she’s the rom-com’s designated “panget.” Poor and pock-marked highschooler Eya (Lustre) signs on to become the personal maid for spoiled nepo baby Cross Sandford (James Reid) in order to pay her way through private school. Cross immediately begins to terrorize his new maid, but the two eventually spend more and more time together.
There is something to be said about the bigger issues that Diary ng Panget (2014) seems to skim over (e.g. how Eya’s treated as an ugly outsider in a rich-kid, English-speaking private school, how she needs a makeover in order for Cross to completely fall in love with her); but for fans of the Wattpad series of the same name, as well as JaDine loyalists, Diary ng Panget was one of the most memorable movies to star the former love team. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo’
Chaos reigns in Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo (2006). There are hardly any moments of kilig here; the necessary courtship is condensed in merely 15 minutes, and the marriage proposal comes as a solution rather than an act of love. The film is doled out in episodic scenarios wherein Angie (Judy Ann Santos) and Jed (Ryan Agonicillo) duke it out on an assortment of issues, from in-law headaches and farting to “human rights” and marital cheating. But it works, mainly because of Santos — especially Santos — and Agoncillo’s devotion to flesh out the absurdities of their characters. Angie isn’t a suffering housewife nor does she want Jed de-clawed. Her strong-headedness means she won’t take no shit, at times evoking Maricel Soriano’s fast-talking ball buster; while Jed is a mewling man confused in the face of high-stakes conflict. Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo destroys the image of happily ever after: Marriage is hard work and you’d be damned enough to think that only true love can save you from its tempestuous waters. —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Maybe This Time’
I’m a sucker for exes getting back together, but in the land of cinema, rom-coms have the hard job of convincing us why two old lovers should get back together at all. Such is the plight of director Jerry Lopez Sineneng in Maybe This Time (2014), which follows summer sweethearts Steph (Sarah Geronimo) and Tonio (Coco Martin) who lose touch after he leaves her without saying goodbye. Steph thinks she’s finally over Tonio, but old feelings come flooding back when she ends up crossing paths with him seven years later. Except this time, he’s a taken man. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Isa Pa, With Feelings’
Isa Pa, With Feelings (2019) is one of those straightforward, no-nonsense rom-coms. Director Prime Cruz has little time for cliches, and his main focus here is to tell a love story between a person with a disability and one without. Mara (Maine Mendoza) is a stressed-out junior associate at an architecture firm who, in her spare time, takes sign language lessons taught by Gali (Carlo Aquino), who is himself deaf. After she fails her board exams, Mara ends up becoming closer to Gali. Their romance moves slowly and quietly, and just like the film’s minimalist and stripped-down aesthetics, the two seem to be only engaged in conversations that matter. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Love at First Stream’
In Love at First Stream (2021), V, short for Vilma (Daniela Stranner, who delivers a compelling performance), explores the streaming app Kumu as a way to earn money. She does tutorials at first with Tupe (Anthony Jennings, who shines in this role), a sort of an apology since she dumped Tupe when they were in high school and it’s everything you need to know about V. She’s singular-minded when it comes to the things she wants, even at the cost of the people who love her. In contrast, Tupe is the gig economy personified. He moonlights as a rider for a food delivery service (hence the many Chic-Boy placements) and cleans the condo unit so they can finally sell it. Tupe is maabilidad. He is there when V needs props or ideas for their vlogs — his undying devotion for her notwithstanding. You know where this trope is going.
Love at First Stream is interesting in its meta approach in love teams. The leads aren’t the usual KathNiels and LizQuens and, as seen in the 2016 MMFF entry Vince and Kath and James, the Star Cinema rom-com formula still has the ability to surprise when there are fresh faces in it. Love at First Stream is funnier than it has any right to be, with Stranner and Jennings leading the comedy pack, along with an, as expected, excellent ensemble cast supporting them.
There are hints that the film wants to mine deeper insights here: how this new generation interacts in both the virtual and real worlds, building relationships in them and out of them (or a confluence of both); and how incentivized behavior can be both boon and bane in an era where life is mostly experienced online. Love at First Stream still has the usual Pinoy film moralizing — always a pitfall in an otherwise great film. Family comes first, etc. etc. Though it’s something that’s being tested now that we’re all Very Much Online, what with all your titos and titas pontificating with fake news backing them up. But that’s for another story. —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: Netflix
‘My Ex and Whys’
In Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s My Ex and Whys (2017), things kick off with a major red flag: we’ve got a cheater. Gio (Enrique Gil) and Cali (Liza Soberano) were college sweethearts until Gio decided to go back to being a playboy (classic). Fast-forward a few years later, and Cali is now a call agent by day and a blogger by night, using her platform to dunk on all men and expose the woes of singlehood. She ends up reconnecting with Gio after they find themselves locked in a viral Twitter war, and Cali must decide whether or not she can forgive the man who hurt her.
I think Garcia-Sampana, Gil, and Soberano do a lot of work to make the cheating storyline a little more forgivable. It’s clear that the Soberano and Gil well together onscreen, and when we finally make it to South Korea in the movie’s second act, the pair have done more than enough work trying to convince audiences that both their characters are trying their best to put the past behind them. However, the cheating problem is not so easily dismissed, and we, like Cali, have to decide if we can trust Gio a second time. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: Netflix, YouTube
‘My Amnesia Girl’
My Amnesia Girl (2010) still represents the possibilities of how local romcom can be: suffused with energy and winning earnestness. Determination fuels much of John Lloyd Cruz’s character in this film, eager to right the wrongs he’s done to Toni Gonzaga’s Irene, whom he let down the first time by leaving her during their wedding day. The path to their reconciliation is full of tricks, gags, and frustration, but of course, they end up together. What remains watchable, though, is the irrefutable chemistry between Cruz and Gonzaga: two actors who can hit their strides, facing off like in a tense tennis match, throwing each other charm bombs until they burst into lovelorn flames. It’s somewhat disappointing that this is only the on-screen pairing of the two, aside from their still-running sitcom, “Home Sweetie Home.” —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: YouTube
‘A Very Special Love’
In A Very Special Love (2008), it seems like a gambit: a simple girl pining for an unreachable dreamboat. It is the stuff that fuels every fangirl’s delusions, kind of like that far-off dream when you stare into Harry Styles’s mug in that One Direction poster on your wall. Geronimo’s lowly Laida ending up with Cruz’s Miggy? Stranger things have happened, and of course, they will end up together — it took three films to drive home that point. But how they got there is a lovely road paved with the idea that love can pluck even the unlikeliest people to create a mesmerizing connection that even the coldest hearts can be warmed by the persistence of charm. The true legacy of Cruz and Geronimo’s team-up is that it proves there are no great obstacles in love that can weaken bonds; there is only the force of feeling that draws us toward each other. —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Always Be My Maybe’
God bless Arci Muñoz, because she definitely brings a lot of the comedy to Dan Villegas’ Always Be My Maybe (2019). In it, she plays Tintin, a freshly dumped make-up artist who meets an equally broken-hearted stranger, Jake (Gerald Anderson). They’re just two messy people, who eventually agree to wingman each other despite the growing feelings between them.
Whether it’s her gushing in a make-up tutorial about how to get that perfect ASG (ahem, short for After Sex Glow) or her using the clunkiest pick-up lines on Jake, Muñoz knows when to show off her comedy chops and when to hold back for the rom-com’s quieter moments. On his part, Anderson plays Muñoz’s steady, straight man, and together, they make a surprisingly effective comedy duo. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: YouTube
‘That Thing Called Tadhana’
From the second we see Angelica Panganiban’s Mace ugly-crying to One More Chance, with JM De Guzman’s Anthony awkwardly sitting beside her, we know what type of rom-com we’re going to get with Antoinette Jadaone’s That Thing Called Tadhana (2014).
Although Jadaone has admitted to wanting to move on from her “Tadhana” era of filmmaking, there is a reason why it’s one of her most memorable rom-coms. Firstly, it pairs up Panganiban and De Guzman, both of whom know how to deftly balance each other’s highs and lows throughout the movie. Mace is always on the precipice of another romance-induced nervous breakdown, but Anthony knows exactly how to calm her down and get her to enjoy the wonderful sights of their Baguio road trip. Secondly, it’s a rom-com much more focused on the slow-build banter between its two leads than on the cliches and truisms of its genre. That Thing Called Tadhana is a rom-com that isn’t afraid to grieve, but even in its grief, it manages to find that ever-important comedic silver lining. —Mel Wang
Where to stream: Netflix
‘The Boy Foretold by the Stars’
The country’s boys love (BL) industry may already be a step in the right direction for queer representation, but there’s no denying that we haven’t seen enough effeminate gays gracing our big screens. But in this MMFF 2020 contender, Dolly Dulu finally places one of them at the center: enter the charming and earnest Dominic (Adrian Lindayag), who visits Quiapo’s most famous fortune teller and finds out he’s bound to meet his soulmate at an upcoming school retreat. True enough, he runs into Luke (Keann Johnson), a shy and surprisingly sensitive straight boy fresh out of a breakup with his long-term girlfriend.
The two instantly hit it off and form a deep connection that allows them to be their authentic selves. Though the suffocating machismo in their all-boys Catholic high school is determined to keep them apart, that just makes every moment they share all the more exciting and worth the wait – whether it involves painting props after school hours or singing at the top of their lungs in their secret hiding place. Filled with fluffy moments and just enough angst to keep viewers guessing until the end, The Boy Foretold by the Stars is proof that young gay boys deserve their own Star Cinema-type story, too. —Don Jaucian
‘Love You to the Stars and Back’
According to legend, anyone can summon aliens by scaling up Mt. Milagros in the dead of night and repeatedly chanting “Ashira grevinda mama ajaarum.” Once they appear and take you in, all your problems and worries will disappear. Or at least, that’s what Mika (Julia Barretto) believes. Still shaken by the unexpected loss of her mother, she decides to drive up to the mountains and chances upon Caloy (Joshua Garcia), a boy afflicted with cancer and eager to put an end to his family’s suffering.
On the surface, Love You to the Stars and Back (2017) a quirky road trip movie, but in case you didn’t catch it, their desire to be taken by aliens is a metaphor for a suicide pact. Barretto and especially Garcia are burdened with so much pain, as seen in the film’s famous bridge scene that can reduce any viewer to a puddle of tears, yet they’re made to grapple with what they already mean to each other. Is the glimmer of hope they glean from their blossoming relationship enough for them to start anew? Can true love come alive in the face of grief and death? —Don Jaucian
Where to stream: YouTube
‘Relaks, It’s Just Pag-Ibig’
An underrated collaboration by two of the best directors working today, Relaks, It’s Just Pag-Ibig (2014) is a story of love told in the simplest of ways. In Relaks, Sari (Sofia Andres) enlists the help of Josh (Iñigo Pascual) to go on a road trip and fulfill the happy ending of a love letter she found. Ever the romantic, Sari wants to see the ending of the love letter through by going to Leyte, go to the spot the two lovers were supposed to meet, and witness a rare blue moon. Complications ensue when Sari’s childhood best friend, Kiko (Julian Estrada). Kiko and Josh are total opposites. Josh is the cool, tsundere-type who’s secretly falling for Sari, while Kiko is the one who’s devoted to Sari all his life. The film is just that — an untangling of a love triangle and a promise fulfilled, and they meet a cast of characters along the way. It can be cringe, it can be hilarious (“Favorite Book: Twilight. Tangina! Libro ba ‘yun? Tangina ka! Ano ka high school?”), it can be the affirmation of what romance should be. You can see the blueprints of directors Antoinette Jadaone and Irene Villamor are laying down in Relaks, and it’s masterful to behold considering how they’ve conquered the genre of romance in Philippine cinema. —Don Jaucian
