2023 Movie
Dir. Petersen Vargas · Philippines · English, Tagalog
Committed leads in fabulous outfits can't entirely make up for this dark comedy's weak satire
Built entirely around the star power of its lead performers, A Very Good Girl does, indeed, provide ample opportunities for both Kathryn Bernardo and Dolly de Leon to chew the scenery with wild abandon. But even their most campily delivered one-liners are only entertaining in the moment, as the film twists itself into increasingly complicated (and still oddly sanitized) knots to keep its thrills going. It ends with an incredibly muddled view of the kinds of violence perpetrated by the wealthy and the less fortunate, as if the studio funding the movie prevented it from becoming the bolder, edgier story it seems to want to be.
After a heartless firing triggers a chain of unfortunate events, Philo plots a meticulous revenge against retail mogul, Mother Molly, aiming to dismantle her empire and seize the ultimate payback. This time, there is no mercy.
A young woman seeks revenge against the callous retail mogul who ruined her life—by becoming a wealthy socialite and infiltrating her inner circle.
New fans of de Leon, who likely first saw her in her film-stealing performance in Triangle of Sadness, should be delighted to know that this is probably the most substantial screen role she's ever received: a Filipino Miranda Priestly but with murderous intent. She's as great as expected. But her on-screen rival, played by Bernardo, is arguably even more impressive—fully playing up the hollowness of the rich people she hates, and visibly seething at having to be in this situation in the first place. Together their interactions might only occasionally make sense, but they still add jolts of energy to an otherwise tiresome plot.
If you take a shot every time somebody says the word "mother" in this movie, you will open a portal to hell in your liver.
Emil Hofileña is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. He also writes as a theater critic, with work published in Rogue and Out of Print, among others. He’s probably crying over a movie or an episode as we speak.
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