Cert 12A
119 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence
The fact that Beauty And The Bestie is the highest grossing Filipino movie of all time on domestic earnings should at least prevent the country being tarred by the brush of boxer Manny Pacquiao.
The latter is arguably the most famous Filipino since Imelda Marcos and, therefore, could have created much damage with his repulsive comments about the gay community last week.
It caused reverberations with the likes of Vice Ganda who is a Filipino TV star as well as the lead in Wenn V. Deramas' hugely popular film.
Beauty And The Bestie came as something of a surprise because it is a rare mainstream movie which embraces gay and transgender characters.
Ganda plays Erika who is roped into helping a secret service mission at a Miss Universe-style pageant by his best friend (Coco Martin).
However, as much as my liberal tendencies prompted me to want to enjoy the movie, I can't say that I did because I just didn't find it funny.
Ganda's character has something of the Mrs Brown about her and not because she is a man dressed as a woman.
She is also big on family and friends and also has a habit of breaking away from the obvious script and acknowledging she is in a movie.
The problem for me was that I didn't like this style with Mrs Brown's Boys and I didn't think much of it here either. I just don't see what is amusing in ugly fellas dressing in skirts going off piste.
In addition, there is a bizarrely high body count in a movie which appears to set itself up as a family comedy. The good news is that the victims are all bad guys.
Beauty And The Bestie is wildly over-the-top in both costumes and actions and it has proven its audience but it just didn't grab me.
Reasons to watch: if you enjoy cross-gender comedies
Reasons to avoid: its over-acting
Laughs: none for me
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 4/10
Star tweet
The LGBT is a group of people. We are humans. But not animals. Though we're no saints we will pray for Manny Pacquiao.