Review: 'A Secret Affair' - Inept, Hackneyed and Empty

A Secret Affair is basically a replica of the commercial sleeper No Other Woman. In that goal the film is triumphant, a trifecta for awful lines, weak characters and a hackneyed script. While arguably darker in core, the film comes to a dead end, consistently throwing improbable lines at each other, one victor celebrating after another, and that's that - you're at the end. It all starts with Raffy (Anne Curtis) baffled, dubious about her forthcoming marriage with long-time beau Anton (Derek Ramsey), abruptly calling it off. Anton naturally is pissed, finding comfort with Raffy's sorority gal pal Sam (Andi Eigenmann, Pridyider) while Raffy takes some time away. In her comeback, she finds out how Anton and Sam had a secret affair, and what ways she can take to reunite with her fiancee.

The marketing gimmickry here is to make a rehash of a film which proved immensely bankable, and usually, commercially, it works. Making a good movie out of this, is rare. The pic casts two-thirds of the main cast of No Other Woman, thrust them on a different title, and play similar roles that they have played in the previous movie. Ramsey, who plays the easily lets go of sudden emotions husband/fiancee, is the same role as he played in No Other; Curtis, who previously played mistress, now assumes Christine Reyes's previous part. The film revolves around the two with Eigenmann, motioned by (either amusing or loathing) one-liner threats, and closes with what the lessons you would have learned from the movie. "Aray," Raffy speaking about her hand that landed on Sam's face, "ang sakit ng kamay ko, ang tigas kase ng mukha mo".

The mediocre acting and second-rate direction is soapy enough, just involving the two. But add their respective on-screen mums, one (maybe myself) will go completely derange. Jaclyn Jose, Raffy's mum, dropped the epic, "Bitch ka lang, ako super-bitch!", and while it is fun as it is silly, it doesn't add up to make any amends. I mean, who says that really? Thin characters are left you detached throughout, another reason to curl your lip up with disdain. In entirety, the film feels soapy, a remarkably terrible telenovela shoehorned into a two-hour theatrical presentation.

Director Nuel Crisostomo Naval had A Secret Affair as his debut feature film, and while it's clearly an unwise choice, for an instant it feels right that he take hold of the project. A first-time feature film director doing an inept and an unnervingly samey movie is forgivable as compared with someone who has been on cinema before. He was given an empty project, with nothing interesting to work with, only a hackneyed plot, a complete rehash, and a narrative tripe to play with. I can bet a good deal of money that if you have watched No Other Woman, you have watched about seventy-percent of A Secret Affair, a clumsy commercial rehash. C-