Having watched both Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards in television noontime show Eat Bulaga!’s comic segment Kalyeserye, where their phenomenally successful loveteam started, I think it was only natural that their first full-length feature together as lead actors would be a romantic comedy. The two are indeed among the few loveteams in the Philippine entertainment industry that can pull off such roles almost naturally.
In Imagine You and Me, which was shot in Como, Italy, with a few scenes in Verona, 24-year-old Richards plays Andrew, a heartbroken medical student living with his stepmother, while 21-year-old Mendoza is Gara, a hopeless romantic who works various odd jobs to support her family in the Philippines.
Gara has never had a boyfriend and believes her love life is jinxed and thus focuses on her work. Andrew is rude, insensitive and grumpy as he nurses a broken heart. Their love story starts when they meet at Lake Como.
The location, which features picturesque Como’s breathtaking scenery, architectural sites and its romantic lake, added to the electrifying chemistry of Richards and Mendoza.
Many Filipinos working abroad can relate to Gara, whose bouts of loneliness in a foreign country, failed love life and, of course, positive character will resonate with many OFWs.
Mendoza is refreshingly natural in a comedic role. It’s easy to admire her whenever she throws funny or comedic lines and her famous Dubsmash lines (she was known online as the Dubsmash Queen before she became a showbiz personality). She shines in the comedy, which is really her comfort zone. Having said that, she could use some more polishing in handling dramatic scenes, and I think she could be on the way to becoming one of the better actors today.
Richards was being himself, the boy-next-door with charming good looks and mesmerising dimples. He plays a guy who seems to be desperately looking for answers as he deals with relationship issues with his family and love life, until he bumps into Gara, the antithesis to Andrew’s peevish character. He handled the funny scenes well and, just like Mendoza, did a decent job with the heavy drama.
An entertaining, feel-good movie, Imagine You and Me also has its fair share of hugot lines (quotable quotes), which perhaps makes it even more appealing to a lot of Filipino viewers.
As in many other movies created specifically for a loveteam, the duo dominated almost every scene. The subplot that tackled Andrew’s relationships with his ex-girlfriend Isay, played by Jasmine Curtis-Smith, and his stepmother Terry, played by Irma Adlawan, helped in providing some useful backstory for Andrew’s character. Gara’s backstory, however, was not explored as much.
Nonetheless, the palpable chemistry of AlDub sustained the intensity of the movie throughout.
