Christmas is a time for laughter and family and what better way to spend with your peeps than watching this cute family movie featuring child sensation, ‘Aleng Maliit’ Ryza Mae Dizon and presidential nephew James ‘Bimby’ Yap in their first leading roles along with comedy prince Vic Sotto and Philippine Queen of Talk Kris Aquino? But seeing this movie is easier said than done because since the movie’s opening, it has broken all Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) records and has consistently sold out for all screenings since Christmas day. Luckily, after much patience and effort on our part, my mom, brother and I were finally able to get seats for the last full show of this comedy.

Widower Torky (Vic Sotto) works as a bookkeeper for Baba (Kris Aquino), a rich single mom who is being framed for a pyramid scam by her bitter half sister Marga (Jaclyn Jose). Forced to hide out and find a way to clear her name, Baba entrusts the care of her son Justin (Bimby) to Torky to keep him safe from Marga’s goons. Meanwhile, Aiza (Aiza Seguerra), Torky’s estranged niece, brings home a little munchkin of her own — Ching (Ryza Mae) when the orphanage she used to stay in threatens to close down. Faced with the challenge of living together and getting along, it takes extraordinary circumstances for these four individuals to bond and find love and friendship in each other.

On paper, My Little Bossings is perfect for kids and kids at heart. It has a simple plot, not entirely original but good enough to cater to the tastes of its viewers. Veteran screenwriter Bibeth Oropeza made sure to include a lot of jokes and funny antics in the script while director Marlon Rivera made sure to include product placements of some 10 or 15 sponsors throughout the movie, some in passing and some with the intent to really sell their products hard. I suppose with the sponsorship alone, the film already made more than enough to break even but with a till of over P200 million (as of this writing), producers MZet production, Kris Aquino Productions, Octo Arts and APT Entertainment will be laughing their way to the bank for a very long time. At first, the ads were a bit off but after a while, it becomes like a game to viewers to see how many products or brand they could spot throughout the movie. Personally, I counted about 10 (Oplus, Cherry Mobile, Downy, Safeguard, Ariel, Pampanga’s Best, Lucky Me, El Real pasta, Haru Japanese restaurant and Solmux) — I don’t know if I missed anything.

The two kids were really who audiences came to see. After the success of their Dunkin Donuts ad, it seemed like a good idea to give them the stage and see how it goes. The scenes where the two interact really is fun to watch, mostly because it was obvious that they were having fun themselves. True, Bimby’s acting needs a lot of work if he intends to continue with showbusiness but Ryza Mae is already a true gem. She is witty and funny and she has learned a lot of from her hosting gigs and exposure to the camera in Eat Bulaga. The dramatic aspects of the film actually did not sit too well with me because of the slow reveal. It seemed like the film was dragging out explaining why Torky and Aiz hated each other’s guts and after a while, it becomes kind of tedious and takes away from the true essence of the movie. Their reconciliation scene though is kind of touching, mostly because these two go way back and the emotions came through as genuine. Kris Aquino was mostly just being herself but since her role did not really call for any strong acting, and she just appeared in some parts of the story, it was okay. Jaclyn Jose as the villain was a bit over the top and her henchmen Paolo Ballesteros and Jose Manalo did not really do anything new.

All in all, my favorite parts of the movie were actually the bloopers and the parts that were obviously unrehearsed because they were really funny. I would have liked it though if the movie focused more on the comedy and the kids, rather than the underlying dramatics because it would have made the movie more fun and entertaining.