An Honest Review Of 'I'm Drunk, I Love You' By Someone Who's Never Been Friend-Zoned
The Long Plot, Sans Spoilers
Carson has been secretly in love with her best friend Dio since their first year as college students seven (!) years ago. Now that they're just days away from finally graduating, Dio suddenly invites Carson to a music festival in La Union, which happens dangerously close to the day of the graduation ceremony. Unable to say no to Dio, Carson drags her gay friend Jason Ty along as well, and he challenges her to finally reveal her true feelings to Dio on the trip. Once they get to La Union, however, Carson is shocked to see Dio cozying up to a girl named Pathy (and no, that's not a typo; there really is an H). Despite Pathy's intrusion, Carson manages to confess her feelings to Dio—a confession that rocks their years-long bond.
The Honest Plot
Carson has been languishing in the friend zone for SEVEN FRICKIN' YEARS—can you imagine how she's just bursting at the seams with all that secret longing? She finally does so on a trip with Dio to La Union—for better or worse.
The Actors And Where You Last Saw Them
Maja Salvador as Carson
She earlier played a police officer in the ABS-CBN program FPJ's Ang Probinsyano. She now headlines another ABS-CBN drama, Wildflower.
Paulo Avelino as Dio
He starred opposite Angelica Panganiban and Dingdong Dantes in last year's The Unmarried Wife. He will play Gregorio del Pilar in the upcoming biopic Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral by the makers of the 2015 blockbuster Heneral Luna, which he also had a cameo in.
Dominic Roco as Jason Ty
The GMA-7 talent was previously part of the rom-com Juan Happy Love Story. He will conquer the small screen again in Destined to be Yours with Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza.
Jasmine Curtis-Smith as Pathy (with an H)
In 2016, she appeared in the AlDub starrer Imagine You and Me. That same year, she played a lesbian in the indie film Baka Bukas, which is scheduled for a wider cinematic release on March 1, 2017.
Irma Adlawan as Carson's mom
The film, TV, and stage actress recently won the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016 Best Actress award for Oro.
Jim Paredes as Dio's dad
The veteran musician, TV personality, and writer appeared in the 2015 mobile series Must Date the Playboy, which also features Irma Adlawan in a supporting role.
Did You Know?
1. I'm Drunk, I Love You (IDILY) is director JP Habac's first full-length film.
2. The production company behind IDILY, TBA Films, is the same team behind 2015's Heneral Luna.
3. When you watch IDILY, you also get to watch Angelito, a short film which serves as the bridge between Heneral Luna and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral, the second installment in director Jerrold Tarog's historical trilogy slated for release in 2018.
4. Paulo Avelino is a co-producer of IDILY.
5. Maja and Paulo previously worked together on ABS-CBN's 2015 soap Bridges of Love alongside Jericho Rosales.
6. Maja and Paulo were not who director JP Habac originally had in mind for the roles of Carson and Dio, as he reveals in this Philstar interview.
7. OPM features strongly in the film, with songs and performances by Juan Miguel Severo, Shirebound and Busking, Kai Honasan, Jimmy Bondoc, Parokya ni Edgar, Cynthia Alexander, David Yuhico, Johnoy Danao, Ebe Dancel, Bullet Dumas, The Out of Body Special, and Ang Bandang Shirley accompanying critical scenes. Click here for a list of songs from the OST.
8. One of the songs performed by Paulo Avelino in the film, the Shirebound and Busking original "Lloydy," comes with a music video that stars—yep, you guessed it—John Lloyd Cruz.
More facts about IDILY in our exclusive video:
What My Friends Think:
I watched the movie with three friends. Here's more or less what their exchange sounded like once we stepped outside the cinema.
Friend 1: Ikaw si Carson! *points to Friend 2*
Friend 2: Oy, hindi ah! Siya 'yun! *points to Friend 3*
Friend 3: Ikaw 'yun no! *points to Friend 2… or was it Friend 1?*
Expect some of your own friends to relate to the friend zone theme, although they might deny it.
What I Think:
I've personally never been in the friend zone, so I had no such moment of realization and/or denial. When I like a guy who sees me only as a friend, I don't let that like evolve into love to avoid getting hurt. No matter how awesome my guy friend is, my instinct for self-preservation is stronger, so I can't imagine what it's like to be in the long-suffering Carson's shoes. I mean, how? How can she stick around for that long? HOW, BAKS?!
But I have been in situations where I've held on to people, things, and moments, even when my clinging was left unrewarded: I've been the girl who tried to make a failing business work, the girl who sought to make a fading friendship last, the girl who fought to make an ex-boyfriend come back. For all these reasons, I was Carson, she who felt the inevitability of moving forward–or, to use the movie's metaphor, "graduating." Carson is all of us when we finally outgrow the things we've been putting off outgrowing, and that is a feeling anyone can relate to, friend-zoned or not.
Here, some other thoughts I had while watching:
"OMG Carson and Jason Ty sound just like me and my friends. I could totally be having that conversation right now."
"LOL at Jason being called Jason Ty. We all have that one friend whose name isn't his name until the last name's thrown in."
"I can’t tell if Dio's selfish, paasa, or just really, really manhid."
"I'm glad they gave Jason Ty his own storyline so he's not just the token GBF (gay best friend) so often portrayed in other local films and TV shows."
"I can’t hate Pathy with an H, even though she's so perfect, it's easy to hate her. That's a good thing, though. Love rivalries are rarely as simple as a battle between a good girl and an evil girl IRL. Any movie that whittles a love rivalry down to just good vs. evil is dishonest and lazy."
"That rendition of Sugarfree's 'Burnout' is giving me legit CHILLS."
"Dammit. Now I want bagnet."
I’d Recommend It To:
Anyone who has ever had to "graduate" from an attachment to something—whether it's a job that doesn't fulfill you, a relationship that no longer makes you happy, or a habit that does you more harm than good. Doesn't matter if you're a millennial or a Gen Xer; while the movie features distinctly Gen Y characters, language, and settings, the coming-of-age theme will resonate with any viewer who still remembers how his or her own coming of age felt like. I wouldn't recommend it to baby boomers, though; they'd probably just go, "Nung panahon namin, (insert comparison of how they did things back then vs. how these damn kids are doing it these days)."
Catch IDILY while it's still in theaters! View this list to see where you can catch it.
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