i watched both Bagets movies this morning, and i do stand corrected on one scene i thought was so vivid to me up until now, from when i first watched it as a kid: no, it wasnt jobelle salvador, nor eula valdez who was the jazz fan: it was yayo aguila. and it wasnt to piss off her boy’s folks: it was to make the boy (william martinez) listen to the family’s common passion, since later in the movie, they transformed into a band, singing a manhattan transfer song.
the original Bagets movie had tonfuls of cliche’s, a tired storyline, but had enough character development and a good cast to overcome it. the boys were charming enough, the girls were pretty enough. herbert bautista and his trademark four-eyed loser stuck out, and eula valdez came off as the best girl among the lot. the score reeked of the sappy 80s, the fashion stunk with baston pink pants, and yellow jackets, the choreography was loose and uninspired, but that adds up to the entire charm, the dated vibe, and the undeniable appeal of it all. direk marjo j knew what needs to be done with the material: for example, no over sentimentality when miss aguila ‘died’ after a dune buggy race accident (there was no verbal mention to state that she died), though the may-december affairs of jc bonnin and aga muhlach were a tad redundant. still, i’d easily underline this movie as a local film triumph. did any movie of this type come close to achieving cult status?
Bagets 2. now, this became german-moreno-land, with costume balls, and an overindulgence of old-movie namedropping. it suffered from miscasting, most notably that of the so-so girls (they kept miss valdez, thank goodness) paired to the Bagets boys. the first hour was promising, with a less-than-forgettable live-mannequin department store show. when the boys summer jobs went kaput, and they decided to attend a arts/dance/acting workshop, i gave up on it. to wrap up this regrettable mishmash, william martinez had to be rescued from a shotgun wedding, where the bad guys had to chase our guys out of lucban, quezon, during a crowded fiesta: this is an andrew e movie ending :/
oh, Bagets 2’s film score had spanish menudo songs and the ghostbusters theme: apparently, this is no match to the remarkably wonder-cheesy one-hit-wonder singers and groups slapped onto the first Bagets movie.