Can't Help Falling in Love

Mae Cruz-Alviar's 2017 Filipino film is about a woman who plans everything. Gab is devoted to her career and engaged to the man she has been with for years; during the preparations for the wedding it emerges that she was legally married years ago, on a holiday, to a man she does not know. To have the papers annulled she has to find him. Dusty is her opposite: unplanned, easy-going and reluctant to take responsibility. The time they spend together goes where it is expected to and the film follows the familiar romantic comedy shape. What is interesting is that it frames Gab's choice not as a question of love but of what kind of life she wants. Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla are a well known pairing in the Philippines. Who it's for: viewers who like Filipino romantic comedy. Who it's not for: anyone looking for an original plot; the film takes the familiar road.