Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 16
The characters and situations seem borrowed from overwrought sitcoms.
Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 5
The characters and situations seem borrowed from overwrought sitcoms.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 996
Five Filipino-American friends living in New York City deal with love, sex, friendship, careers, and cultural identity in this romantic comedy-drama directed by veteran Philippine actress Laurice Guillen. Tere Sanchez (Cherry Pie Picache) is an accountant who is in her early forties, single, and not especially happy about it. Tere is an excellent cook, and often throws dinner parties for her friends, and the arrival of her old friend Lorna (Sol Oca) from Manila is all the reason she needs to
Jan 25, 2002 Wide
May 20, 2003
$0.2M
Outrider Pictures
All Critics (24) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (16) | DVD (1)
American Adobo is entertaining and it's filled with fine performances from the ensemble cast.
The script by Vincent R. Nebrida ... tries to cram too many ingredients into one small pot.
A big meal of cliches that the talented cast generally chokes on.
Stiff and schmaltzy and clumsily directed.
An intimate, good-humored ethnic comedy like numerous others but cuts deeper than expected.
Really is a pan-American movie, with moments of genuine insight into the urban heart.
A sophomoric exploration of 'life problems' most people solved long ago -- or at least got tired of hearing people kvetch about.
Guillen rarely gets beneath the surface of things. She lists ingredients, but never mixes and stirs.
While American Adobo has its heart (and its palate) in the right place, its brain is a little scattered -- ditsy, even.
Mushes the college-friends genre (The Big Chill) together with the contrivances and overwrought emotion of soap operas.
It sticks rigidly to the paradigm, rarely permitting its characters more than two obvious dimensions and repeatedly placing them in contrived, well-worn situations.
Tries to add some spice to its quirky sentiments but the taste is all too familiar.
I'm not sure which is worse: the poor acting by the ensemble cast, the flat dialogue by Vincent R. Nebrida or the gutless direction by Laurice Guillen.
The film is reasonably entertaining, though it begins to drag two-thirds through, when the melodramatic aspects start to overtake the comedy.
Too much clunky dialog in mawkish situations dissolve this flick into shrill histrionics.
Though clearly well-intentioned, this cross-cultural soap opera is painfully formulaic and stilted.
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