At two hours long, "The Hows of Us" was limited severely by so much bloat and so many tropes that it really made us wonder why they just didn't tell a straightforward story in the first place. But don't get us wrong though, it wasn't a bad experience at all and we actually found ourselves liking this film much more than we anticipated. But its barely middling middle section should have been reworked maybe even removed.
For years, Jo (Kathryn Bernardo) and Primo (Daniel Padilla) had a long-lasting relationship so much so that when Jo’s Aunt died, she left her house to the both of them. But with Primo, a budding musician, failing to attain the success that he feels he is beholden to and with Jo feeling that Primo’s failures are holding her back, Primo abandons Jo all by herself. A few years pass by when Primo suddenly shows up and wants to fix the wrongs he has done in the past - including his relationship with Jo. But this isn’t as simple as it sounds as Jo plans to sell their house soon and hasn’t really forgiven and forgotten that Primo left her to fend for herself.
We must admit that “The Hows of Us” left us with a heavy dose of mixed feelings. On one hand, its narrative and story really had potential to be substantially and emotionally moving. But the film also suffers because it felt it needed to do genre tropes within its story that was just unnecessary. For example, there’s a parent or sibling who suffers a sickness in the most opportune time or simply travelling to a foreign country. We wished it just told a more straightforward and down-to-earth story - one that we could actually imagine happening in real-life and not one obviously written for the big screen. While the overall narrative was bloated, the film actually had bright spots. In fact, the first thirty minutes and last thirty minutes were outstanding in our opinion. It had us gripping our seats with emotionally moving moments. Of course, these scenes were bolstered by the great chemistry and acting between Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla. Overall though, “The Hows of Us” will make you swoon in key moments and if that’s what you’re after, you’ll actually find it a story worth experiencing.
Rating 3 and a half reels
Why you should watch it:
- the chemistry and performances from both leads were astounding
- even with its bloat, the story had memorable bright spots
Why you shouldn’t watch it:
- the middle section needed re-work or could have been removed altogether
- suffers due to the need to do romance drama tropes in its narrative
At two hours long, "The Hows of Us" was limited severely by so much bloat and so many tropes that it really made us wonder why they just didn't tell a straightforward story in the first place. But don't get us wrong though, it wasn't a bad experience at all and we actually found ourselves liking this film much more than we anticipated. But its barely middling middle section should have been reworked maybe even removed.
For years, Jo (Kathryn Bernardo) and Primo (Daniel Padilla) had a long-lasting relationship so much so that when Jo’s Aunt died, she left her house to the both of them. But with Primo, a budding musician, failing to attain the success that he feels he is beholden to and with Jo feeling that Primo’s failures are holding her back, Primo abandons Jo all by herself. A few years pass by when Primo suddenly shows up and wants to fix the wrongs he has done in the past - including his relationship with Jo. But this isn’t as simple as it sounds as Jo plans to sell their house soon and hasn’t really forgiven and forgotten that Primo left her to fend for herself.
We must admit that “The Hows of Us” left us with a heavy dose of mixed feelings. On one hand, its narrative and story really had potential to be substantially and emotionally moving. But the film also suffers because it felt it needed to do genre tropes within its story that was just unnecessary. For example, there’s a parent or sibling who suffers a sickness in the most opportune time or simply travelling to a foreign country. We wished it just told a more straightforward and down-to-earth story - one that we could actually imagine happening in real-life and not one obviously written for the big screen. While the overall narrative was bloated, the film actually had bright spots. In fact, the first thirty minutes and last thirty minutes were outstanding in our opinion. It had us gripping our seats with emotionally moving moments. Of course, these scenes were bolstered by the great chemistry and acting between Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla. Overall though, “The Hows of Us” will make you swoon in key moments and if that’s what you’re after, you’ll actually find it a story worth experiencing.
Rating 3 and a half reels
Why you should watch it:
- the chemistry and performances from both leads were astounding
- even with its bloat, the story had memorable bright spots
Why you shouldn’t watch it:
- the middle section needed re-work or could have been removed altogether
- suffers due to the need to do romance drama tropes in its narrative
Comments
Post a Comment