Fresh from the success of her sleeper hit indie flick, That Thing called Tadhana, screenwriter/director Antoinette Jadaone returns to the big screen, this time to helm a romantic comedy for mainstream studio Star Cinema, starring two of the most bankable stars on both television and cinema — Coco Martin and Toni Gonzaga.

Georgina (Toni Gonzaga)  is the assistant vice president for Marketing of an airline company. She is driven, ambitious and is known for her bitchiness by her friends and co-workers. Reeling from a scandal borne from a broken heart, she is given the opportunity to rebuild her reputation when she is tasked by her boss (Freddie Webb) to take charge of a major partnership with a Japanese firm while he is on a two-month leave. Along with the responsibilities, her boss leaves her in charge of Pong (Coco Martin), his good natured assistant of many years. When the partnership is threatened by an unforseen circumstance, Georgina initiates a ruse to save the deal wherein Pong has to play the role of boss, and she assumes the role of assistant.

When the trailer for this movie was released, I knew I was definitely going to watch it. It’s story was not original and reeked of a Hollywood ripoff, but then again, I decided to see it for three reasons. a) It had two talented actors in the lead roles, b) It had Antoinette Jadaone directing and I was curious to see how she would fare post Tadhana and c) It seemed like a legitimate feel good romcom and I am not one to shy away from such a movie.

I don’t regret my decision. You’re My Boss, despite the corny title (seriously, they should have thought about something else) delivered on its every promise. First off, the cast was great. There was little else to do for the supporting cast but everyone gave the movie their all, in whatever capacity they could.

Kudos to the actors who played the Japanese dudes. They were hilarious especially in the basketball scene, which was my favorite scene in the movie — the extras who played the tambays not only looked the part, they played their roles really well. Toni and Coco were awesome as the main characters, but that’s nothing to be surprised about. What’s surprising was the seeming role reversal of the two. While Coco is better known for being a dramatic actor, and Toni the comedienne, Coco totally shone in the movie, bringing every scene to life with his charm and his killer smile. He had great comedic timing and his enthusiasm in embracing his role balanced out the rather severe personality that Toni was portraying in the beginning. Toni was tasked to do more of the dramatic scenes for the movie but because it wasn’t a hard core drama, no real heavy lifting was needed. This worked for the movie because the scenes just felt like they belonged in the movie. They didn’t feel forced but rather helped with the character development.

I also loved the fact that Coco, despite being known for not being as proficient in English in real life, was game enough to use this to the film’s advantage. The scene where he was being coached by Toni on how to act, dress and speak like a boss were so goofy I didn’t hear half of what was being said because people were laughing so hard at the scenes. Another favorite of mine was the texting scene. Totally LOL. You just have to see it for yourself to appreciate its genius.

The film had a lot of sponsors,I mean A LOT, but surprisingly, filmmakers were able to incorporate the ad placements into the scenes with subtlety and taste that it didn’t turn off audiences from the plug, or ruin the effect of the scenes. I liked also that it was able to advocate local tourism, and integrate the value of honesty into a very light movie to make it more substantial at the end of the day.

Simply put, it tells audiences that love works in mysterious ways and that it doesn’t matter what standards you set for the person that you want to love. What’s important is if you are willing to set those standards aside if the one who will love you is right in front of you.

All in all, You’re My Boss was an entertaining watch. It was very character driven but still had the presence of mind to incorporate some lessons about love and relationships (and even family) along the way. It was funny, thought provoking, and also surprisingly, effective in an emotional level. And for the price of the movie ticket, I could very well say that it was worth every penny.

Don’t believe me? Here are some choice scenes from the trailer to convince you. PS JM de Guzman has a cameo in this flick.