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You already know what I’m going to write about Ang Tanging Pamilya. You already know what the movie’s going to be like, even if you haven’t seen it. You know there will be sped up footage of people running around. You know DJ Durano’s going to show up in a role that could have easily been written out. You know that at some point, someone’s going to be reciting lines from some other hit film. You know that the filmmaking is going to be sub par. You know that outtakes are going to run over the credits. You already know exactly what you’re going to get: a whole heaping mess of more of the same from Wenn Deramas.

Charlie (Toni Gonzaga) has a long distance relationship with Prince (Sam Milby), a guy she literally met in her dreams. The two are made for each other, but are struggling to cope with not being able to see each other. One day, to Charlie’s surprise, Prince arrives at her doorstep asking her to marry him. The two look ready to spend their lives together, but Charlie’s parents seem intent on getting in the way. Her dad Dindo (Joseph Estrada) puts Prince through a series of trials, while her mom Sunshine is worried that Prince won’t put Charlie’s happiness first. It all gets worse when Prince’s parents come over for the wedding, and Sunshine gets off on the wrong foot with Prince’s mom (Dionisia Pacquaio).

If you’re ever seen a Wenn Deramas film before, you know exactly what to expect. The story is really just a framework from which to hang Deramas’ trademark comedic stylings, the characters doing little more than making fun of people’s looks, running around at double speed, and occasionally acting out a scene from some other Star Cinema movie. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this approach, but it certainly makes the film seem ridiculous when it tries to tap into some sentiment. The little bits of drama that the movie squeezes in feel like parts of a completely different film, only serving to add heavy lulls to an already lackluster and fragmented narrative.

But what really bothers me about this film is the overall shoddiness of the production. There’s just no excuse in this day and age for a mainstream film to be this badly made. Corners are cut everywhere: a scene that’s supposed to be happening at midnight is undermined by the daylight outside the windows, a sequence that uses a split screen has black bars that fall short of running the entire edge of the picture, and more than a couple of scenes have glaring continuity errors. Amazingly enough, Deramas still finds the time and the budget to shoot an early scene with CGI, but can’t be bothered to make the rest of the film anywhere near a watchable level.

Performances are generally game, though the material isn’t there. Ai Ai de las Alas still manages to be entertaining, but one begins to wonder if she can do anything else. Joseph Estrada still has a couple of moves in him, but he delivers his lines with the conviction of a mule. Toni Gonzaga is oddly enthusiastic in everything she does, and her energy makes things work well enough. I think Sam Milby is an underrated talent, though this isn’t really his best outing. His commitment to his role is still apparent, however, in a somewhat entertaining stunt sequence. Dionisia Pacquiao is in the movie, and a lot of jokes are made at her expense. I think there’s little else to say about that.

It’s become increasingly difficult to avoid the fact that Wenn Deramas has been making essentially the same film for the last five or so years. The context changes, but when you get right down to it, he just keeps doing the same thing over and over again, going as far as committing the same technical errors. I can stand everything else, but the lack of care put into these productions is downright offensive to me. There’s just no reason these movies should look this bad.
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