Ex with Benefits

Note: I would have given it a higher score but the poor sound-engineering meant that while dialog was at a comfortable level, overdubbed musical interludes were PAINFULLY LOUD. This was in a commercial theater, which typically has superior sound imaging allowing for better compression of dynamic range; I cannot imagine trying to listen to this on a home theater system.

Lead actors were attractive. I like the fact that a lot of the secondary characters ("character actors") were more average appearance, busting the "everyone is movie star gorgeous" modern Hollywood propaganda; kind of like watching some old flicks from the 30s or 40s when this was the norm. More skin would have netted a higher score too, since the lead actress was such a cutie, but overall it was pretty tame in that dept.: safe to let your teenage daughters watch, at least the parts I saw. (Teenage boys won't sit through it w/o a girlfriend holding them down, anyway...)

Cognitive dissonance set in when the movie 1st opened, because I couldn't figure out why it had subtitles when the narration was in English? Then I realized it wasn't: it was a blend of English & something else. At 1st I thought it was Spanish, but then I realized it was a blend of 3 languages. I wasn't aware this was a Philippine product going in, but gradually came to that realization. Consequently there were some cultural differences to overcome as well (PDA is apparently a no-no there for dating couples?) Anyway, the story itself was pretty trite, and I had to walk out about 1/2 way thru when I got a phone call; I didn't bother going back. I'm sure they ended up happily-ever-aftering, since the entire setup for their initial break up was pretty lame. The quality of the acting overall however was at least acceptable, it was mostly a product of a poor script & lackluster direction that let the story down. Camera-work was 1st rate tho': of what I watched, I can't think of anything that was poorly lit, out of focus or insufficient depth of field.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't pay money to see it (I was just killing time waiting for a different flick to start when I caught the 1st half of this...)