‘OVERTIME’ nina Richard at Lauren binigyan R-13 rating ng MTRCB

RICHARD Gutierrez does his first kontrabida role in “Overtime”. Star-studded as usual, late as usual ang premiere night ng pinakabagong GMA Films opening today nationwide, ang “Overtime”.

Fully-supported ito ng Gutierrez clan and their friends but the biggest name of the night is the female star’s sister of course, Miss World Megan Young who was there to support her sister Lauren Young’s first big screen full length role.

Hindi naman nagpatalo ang mag-asawang Annabelle Rama and Eddie Gutierrez and their children Ruffa Gutierrez, Raymond Gutierrez who is sporting a blond hair and of course Richard with girlfriend Sarah Lahbati.

There were a lot of GMA Artist Center stars too like Thea Tolentino and Juancho Trivino and the other cast of the movie so this, in a way, contributed to the lateness of the premiere but then regular feature na rin yata talaga ito in a Philippine premiere whatever production it is so grin and bear it na lang kami as the movie started 9:12 p.m. in our watch even if the invite stated 7 p.m. so imagine the waiting time.

Jody (Lauren) made a mistake of falling for somebody na may personal vendetta pala sa kumpanyang pinagtatrabahuhan niya, ang Hunterton Pharma owned by Roi Vinzon, si Dong Garcia (Richard) who has a back story of his own about the company.

Tuloy, nagamit si Lauren bilang mouthpiece ni Richard tungkol sa katiwalian ng Hunterton that it used street children for illegal testing of drugs –  something Dong wanted to expose in a big and explosive way via the company’s big presscon kung saan pasasabugin niya rin si Jody na nilagyan niya ng bomba sa tiyan.

As a collateral, Jong also kidnapped Jody’s brother (Renz Valerio) just to be sure. With almost nothing to lose, nakakuha ng katulong si Jody, the company’s IT head (Bearwin Meily) and together with a retired police officer (Mitch Valdez), they tried to solve the case and save the world, or at least themselves.

To be very honest, we can see the concept and it’s quite okay naman. It’s not original as it’s a story of revenge but there is the germ of a story that we can appreciate specially nang ibinigay na ang back story ni Richard and why he kept on saying he “died” two years before the story happened, may nangyari pala sa kaniya.

It was the execution that confused us. In Hollywood, it will be much appreciated believe us: lots of tense moments but lots of comedic relief it can diffuse the tension nga naman.

We just don’t know if the local audience can see this – that amidst the carnage and death, there is humor. Mitch’s role as the retired SPO1 is pure comedic effect but hers is a dramatic role she was even able to help save Lauren.

So is Bearwin who has been shot. Roadfill, the mechanic is supposed to be funny too pero siya naman ang muntik nang mamatay. We are afraid na baka imbes na matawa ang audience sa comical elements, magtanong sila, “Bakit ganu’n?”

Mabuti na lang there is Lauren in the middle of it all. Lauren is very good and very consistent from the start to finish – she owns the movie. Remember grey din ang character niya dahil pawn siya ni Roi  but you can relate to her and root for her until the end because of consistent good acting.

Roi’s participation is what you call “short and sweet.” He knows his character and he knows he won’t be in the screen much so what he has, he maximize and went away with the comedic acting the rest are doing and so he also stood out.

Mitch is good when she’s not trying to be funny at dito nga kami nako-confuse. Hers could be straight funny na lang and we’d appreciate it more but the character is also going for pathos we tend to look away.

Si Richard, matapang siya na tanggapin niya ang kontrabida role. It may change in the very end of the movie but the whole time, he’s the villain so too late ang pagbabago sa ending and the audience will really think he’s the main bad guy.

He must be trying to prove himself that he can do bad roles din dahil remember, his face is still angelic lagyan man ng extra hair or patabain  siya so hard for him to do this role.

“Overtime” is supposed to be a thriller. It was in the end. You just had to sit through it to understand. We just couldn’t see MTRCB’s reasoning why it had to be rated R-13 when it’s not that violent naman when compared to “Transformers: Age of Extinction” with so many people dying getting a G rating baka nag-overtime ang nag-review sa dalawang movie.

( Photo credit to richard gutierrez official fanpage )