When Love Begins...

Considering all the hype put into this brazen launching vehicle for Anne Curtis, When Love Begins was painful to watch from start to finish.

Environmental rights lawyer Ben Caballero (Aga Muhlach) and spoiled real estate scion Michelle 'Mitch' Valmonte (Anne Curtis) meet in Boracay and fall in love. Despite their age difference and lack of things in common, they somehow sustain their MU (mutual understanding). When principles and disparate values and loyalties get in their way, both must make a decision to stay together or stand by their beliefs.

Disappointing, really, considering the experience of writer/director Jose Javier Reyes (Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo) and the leads Curtis and Muhlach. Everything just felt forced: the unnatural dialogue, the wooden delivery, the poor editing...the lack of chemistry between Curtis and Muhlach just added fuel to the fire.

Even the shockingly amateurish use of the formula was glaringly obvious and self-absorbed; despite the well-intended trendily eco-friendly subplot of the movie, the characters become tiresome mouthpieces for the message that it can come across as insincere because the audience's disbelief is not sustained. The supporting cast only serves to jar the moments instead of build up the scenes.

No witty lines, no memorable scenes...utterly, sadly forgettable.