Metro Manila Film Festival 2025: A love story that is so bad

By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter

Movie Review
Love You So Bad
Directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar
Produced by ABS-CBN Film Productions, GMA Pictures, and Regal Entertainment
MTRCB Rating: PG

A YOUNG WOMAN named Savannah (a.k.a. Vanna) finds herself torn between two men: bad boy LA (played by Dustin Yu) who picked her up when she was at her worst, and achiever Vic (Will Ashley) who challenges her to be her best. Bianca De Vera stars as the sassy hot mess at a crossroads very well, and those rooting for one or the other of the two men to fill out her love team for this film will be giggling and kicking their feet, but even her star power can’t save this from all the fanservice cliches that weigh it down.

For the uninitiated, De Vera, Yu, and Ashley are among the many young stars that captured fans’ hearts when they appeared in Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition earlier this year. Bianca De Vera and Will Ashley’s tandem, also known as Willca, was particularly popular. Here, they prove just what it is that people love about them.

The three play college seniors, and everything goes wrong pretty quickly. LA is a chick magnet who has left Vanna, now falling apart drinking and partying as she laments their relationship. Meanwhile, student council president Vic attempts to get Vanna to take their group thesis project seriously so that they can get a good grade, their closeness immediately fueling controversy at school. One ridiculous cliche scenario after another unfolds until it’s clear that the film only has one goal in mind: to put these three in increasingly ghastly and intimate situations to invoke gasps and giggles galore.

Yu does a decent job as LA, with dramatic scenes showcasing his capable acting. Ashley is equally commendable for playing cute and worried, his every action believable despite the ludicrous story. They make for a perfect stoic bad boy, and a perfect strait-laced boyfriend. Squealing fans in the audience can take their pick. But make no mistake: De Vera is definitely the star, her range veering towards fierce and dramatic with ease.

Director Mae Cruz-Alviar, coming from the other year’s blockbuster family drama Rewind, isn’t as effective helming this one. It has the frenetic energy of play-acting what young people are like, complete with silly school scenarios and typically evil parental figures to blame for everything going wrong in their lives. What that offers up in exchange is the depth of how young adults struggle with discerning their paths in life coming from their respective traumatic pasts — one from abandonment by a parent, another from unfair expectations, and the last from neglect and even abuse.

Though the core conflicts they each grapple with are with their parents, it all manifests in their twisted behavior dancing around each other. While it can be relatable and engaging, especially as the drama ramps up, it does little to actually make us feel for every character, since it all depends on whose perspective we are prioritizing in a given scene. The result is a bit of a mess.

Love You So Bad is occasionally fun, sweet, and frustrating to watch, but those who are sick of the romcom tropes that have plagued school set films should probably give this a pass.