‘The Hopeful Romantic’ review: Delightful screwball

In The Hopeful Romantic, writer and director Topel Lee crafts a screwball comedy with more than just a dishing of local humor to come up with an experience that despite its obvious familiarity, still feels fresh.

Implausible conceit

It helps that Lee recruits Pepe Herrera to play the leading man in his film.

Lanky and awkward-looking Herrera, a theater actor who transitioned to film, plays Jess, a parking attendant for the Manila Hotel. A virgin who intends to give himself only to the woman he will marry, Jess falls in love with Veronica (Ritz Azul), a woman who plies the lobby and bars of the hotel to seduce wealthy men for their money.

Jess is forced to pretend that he is rich to keep up with the preferred lifestyle of the woman he thinks is the one for him.

Herrera does a fine job exaggerating the more preposterous facets of his character for giggles.

What separates Herrera’s performance from the rest is how he also manages to humanize a character that is essentially written as a punchline. There is palpable sensitivity here, one that makes the film’s conceit, which is quite implausible to begin with, more tolerable than it should be. (READ: Why Pepe Herrera chooses to be a ‘hopeful’ romantic)

It also helps that Azul provides a sober counterpoint to all the wackiness. She adds ample drama to the silliness, and the mystery she contributes to the comedy gives Lee’s film more texture than an outright gag reel deserves.

Smarter than it looks

The Hopeful Romantic is actually smarter than it looks.

It is, in essence, just a love story about two individuals whose situations in life prevent them from being with each other, forcing both of them to fake their identities. It is set in a world where the distinctions between those who serve and those who are being served is clear. The lovers it follows are fish out of the water, struggling to keep up with lifestyles they can’t afford.

The important thing here is that while the film hinges its humor around these outsiders’ many errors, it never forgets to sympathize with them in their search for happiness beyond the material things they can never have. The film does take a lot of rough and unbelievable turns before its delightful conclusion, but those obvious stretches are grounded on the impression that these lovers deserve to win at some point. 

Like a true screwball, Lee piles farcical situation upon farcical situation to the point of utter ridiculousness. Thankfully, despite the incredulity of its twists and turns, the film’s audacity to blend juvenile slapstick and true wit with classic Hollywood tropes has resulted into something with a distinct and charming identity.

Quite gratifying

The Hopeful Romantic is a delight.

Sure, there are glaring indulgences and a lot of the jokes do not work. However, what works is quite gratifying. – Rappler.com 

Francis Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas’ Tirad Pass.

Since then, he’s been on a mission to find better memories with Philippine cinema.