American Adobo Review from getasia.com.ph Thanks to Dan for this information! http://www.getasia.com.ph/getasia/movietv_ph.nsf/Content/01162002feature S.R.O. (Short Reviews Only) By Jayson Brizuela Wednesday, January 16, 2002 AMERICAN ADOBO Starring: Christopher de Leon, Dina Bonnevie, Sandy Andolong, Ricky Davao, Paolo Montalban, Cherry Pie Picache Directed by: Laurice Guillen Produced by: Vincent Nebrida, Tony Gloria, Steve Grenyo Written by: Vincent Nebrida Distributed by: Outrider Pictures The Plot Set in New York City, this heartwarming comedy follows the lives of five Filipino-American friends who share dinner, friendships, and romance through the course of one eventful year. Tere Sanchez (Picache) is a single woman in her forties; she hosts a dinner in her Queens apartment for a friend who has just come from Manila. She invites their New York City-based friends: Mike (de Leon), a boyish doctor; Gerry, a closet gay who works as an advertising copywriter; Marissa, a pretty but conceited socialite, and her womanizing cousin, Raul (Montalban). Throughout the year, the friends get together with new stories to tell about their lives. The Low-Down The first Filipino film to open in Manila, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, simultaneously, American Adobo is a well-crafted and heartwarming film that tells about both the sad and pleasant stories experienced by Filipino immigrants in the US. It's the story of five friends who are very different from each other but are kept together by their friendship, their intimate dinner parties, and most of all, their love for adobo. Everyone's turned out good performances in this movie. We shouldn't expect less. Dina Bonnevie as the snooty socialite is simply convincing, never mind the somewhat strange accent she sometimes has. Under-acting is the order of the day and director Guillen seems to have made this her number one rule, though Christopher de Leon visibly goes astray here, employing the use of traditional Filipino acting techniques. Filmed on location in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island, this film is really a must-see for all Filipinos. Aside from the fact that it's earned such rave reviews from the San Diego Asian Films Festival last year, it's really a film by Filipinos for Filipinos and the rest of the world. Kudos to those who made this movie possible for giving us something to be proud of yet again.