Big Time, directed and co-written by Mario Cornejo, tells the tale of two small time criminals with dreams of making it big in the crime world. In an attempt to step up their game, they decide to kidnap a girl, Melody (Joanne Miller), but things go horribly wrong when they are forced to also kidnap the son of a crime lord, Wilson (Jamie Wilson). The movie is about the wannabe actress, the crime lord and the two kidnapping buddies, Danny (Winston Elizalde) and Jonas (Nor Domingo), trying to survive for a few days while acquiring the ransom money from the crime lord.
I really wish my first foray into Filipino cinema wasn’t this extremely independent looking comedy. I was not a fan of it at all and couldn’t wait for it to be over, which is why I was surprised that Twitchfilm adored it, my opinions are usually on par with those guys. This movie actually got some decent reviews from those who actually saw it, but I honestly wasn’t able to see what they saw in it, in fact I’m pretty sure all I watched was a buddy crime comedy that tried way too hard to be entertaining.
The movie is all about people and their far reaching dreams, spending their time thinking and wishing about what they could be later in life and complaining about where they’re at now. It’s not a bad concept as it has been done over and over, but Cornejo’s execution is pretty bad. Though, I can’t place the blame entirely on him as it mostly rests on the amateur actors and actresses that are the so-called stars of the picture.
Normally, ridiculous things like a Filipino Godfather (Don Monalo played by Don Manolo (Michael de Mesa) would entice me, but as I continued watching the film and soaking up its quirky style, I realized my acceptance of terrible things has a limit and Big Time was able to show me where my limit for bad films sits.
As for the disc, all that’s included is a music video of the theme song that’s played continuously throughout the film and the original trailer. You also have the option of turning on English subtitles if you don’t speak Tagalog, though 50% is actually in English which is a really nice thing and practically the only reason I was able to watch the entire film. Though not related to the disc itself, I couldn’t tell you what the hell is going on with the DVD cover art, but just from the look of it you could guess that the movie’s not worth your time. Maybe I’m not clever enough to understand it but it looks incredibly stupid and makes no sense at all.
While I commend Pathfinder Pictures for releasing this film, it isn’t one I can recommend. Even if you’re Filipino I’m not even sure I can recommend it, but this is simply one of those cases where you win some and you lose some and, unfortunately for all, this falls into the latter category.
Though the film was released in the Philippines back in 2005, Big Time was just recently made available here in the states. You can check it out on DVD from Pathfinder Pictures.
Movie Rating: A sad excuse for a comedy (2/10)
DVD Rating: 2/10
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