You Changed My Life: Movie Review

It has been awhile since we reviewed a local flick (we cannot even remember what movie it was and when). We are pretty excited though that we are having our first shot of Noypi this 2009 with "You Changed my Life". Why you may ask? Well, the film's predecessor, "A Very Special Love", grossed the third all-time high for any local film ever. That is a feat in itself considering how bloodshot the local industry is. Second, we actually raved about the first film. For a look back to our review of "A Very Special Love" click here. We have to be he honest though, we have high expectations from the film. We know how capable the John Lloyd-Sarah Geronimo tandem is and how good writers can be even with the never-ending romance comedy requirement. Hopefully, "You Changed My Life" can fulfill its promise of yet morphing our minds and our hearts once again. Can it? Find out after the jump.

The film is a direct continuation of the first film and happens six months after. Miggy Montenegro (John Lloyd Cruz) has moved on from being the owner and editor of his men's magazine, Bachelor to being a mentee to his brother, Art. He has now been accepted by his family and nothing seems to go wrong for him. For Laida Magtalas (Sarah Geronimo) she still works for Bachelor but is now the Account Executive, managing advertisements in their fledging magazine. Both Miggy and Laida are on top-of-their-world as they have become successful on their own right and have found that their love is the key to their happiness. Trouble brews though as Miggy is suddenly catapulted to become the GM of the Montenegro's manufacturing business in Laguna; Miggy has no time for Laida. it doesn't help further that Laida's long lost highschool bestfriend Mccoy (Rayver Cruz) has become her Executive Assistant bringing more tension to her and Miggy's predicament.

So did it once again make our hearts skip a bit? Did it "change" our lives? Well, to be blunt, it is a sad no. Do not take it on a negative light though as the film still feels solid overall. The film is still funny as hell and it did have a good, solid story. The John Looyd-Sarah tandem still works for us too and quite effective if you ask us. The sum it all up, if we talk about local films, it still can be considered as one of the finer films shown in recent months and it is truly above the norm. Just a few disappointments really brought our feelings down. First that there were dragging parts; the film feels a little long on some parts. Second, some scenes felt a little too scripted especially the last few scenes and lastly, we just lost some love for Sarah Geronimo and her acting. She just became a little bit too annoying with her hyper-activeness, her voice and her lines.  

Rating: 3 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:

- if you were a fan of the first film

- the chemistry of John Lloyd and Sarah still continues to amaze us

- still better than your average Filipino film especially of the romantic-comedy genre

Why you shouldn't watch it: 
- very cheesy movie

- very cliche lines were used

- Sarah's speaking voice has just become very annoying!