Article from Slant Magazine Thanks to Dan for this information! From Slant Magazine American Adobo Cast: Paolo Montalban, Dina Bonnevie, Ricky Davao, Cherry Pie Picache, Randy Becker and Christopher De Leon Directed by: Laurice Guillen Screenplay by: Vincent R. Nebrida Distributor: Outrider Pictures Running Time: 104 min MPAA Rating: R Year: 2002 Official Site Buy Tickets Trailer *** (three stars out of four) American Adobo is the latest, um, dish in the seemingly endless string of ethnic/food melodramas that have stuffed the indie market ever since Ang Lee went Eat Drink Man Woman. Less appetizing than Tortilla Soup but nowhere near as shrill as ABCD, American Adobo keeps the food on the backburner, letting wounded Philippine-American hearts simmer before a heartfelt, magical realist's New York. Vincent R. Nebrida's screenplay is genuinely likeable despite the universal, sometimes mawkish emotional predicaments of his characters. Mike (Christopher De Leon) itches for his political past at the risk of losing his family while the vain Marissa (Dina Bonnevie) lets her studly boyfriend get in the way of her happiness. The womanizing Raul (Paolo Montalban) must get an HIV test, Gerry (Ricky Davao) must own up to his sexuality at the risk of alienating his traditionalist mother, and Tere (Cherry Pie Picache) must fight off her inner-old maid. Nebrida implies Gerry's closet-homosexuality via the character's references to "Torvill & Dean" and his frustration over Forrest Gump having won the Oscar (coupled with his desire to be a creative director). There are enough clichés and "Three's Company"-style sucker punches present to muddy Tere's American adobo but after a Magnolia-style chaos unifier (no singing here, just some letter reading), something magical occurs. Director Laurice Guillen shifts her focus away from family settings and hones in on individual pain. Even Tere's final schizoid moment can't dilute the hopefulness of Guillen's bittersweet saga. Declarations of love are made, tears flow on cue with a winter's snowfall and Guillen stages an uncomfortably brave "coming out" ritual inside the hospital room of Gerry's dying lover. New Years resolutions are made and emotions are nakedly purged before a New York City that's now become all-too surreal. All the while, the World Trade Center hovers over the proceedings. Ed Gonzalez © slant magazine, 2002.