Kings of Reality Shows (2019): A [Gen Z] Film Review

"The film is open for interpretation, but i don't owe you any explanation."

displays a disclaimer before the movie started. It was necessary after all, you'd realize, as the film concludes. If any, Ariel was conscious that it may be problematic and his film IS indeed problematic.

Kings of Reality Shows is the first reality movie in the Philippines that documents Ariel and Maverick’s journey to the US 10 years ago while they were trying to audition for American Idol Season 7. Since the film was canned, Ariel picked up the story where it left off and proceeded to write his true-to-life story. (Philstar)

Ariel Villasanta persevered to obtain the film rights from GMA films even at the expense of mortgaging his own house. With the help also from his friends - his contemporaries, celebrities, and politicians, he earned the support and received pledges to finally show the movie to the big screen.


He doesn't want to have 'regrets'. That's the basic rationale as to why this film, even being put in limbo for several years, has managed to make it, or... will it? (It is scheduled to be released on November 27, 2019)

The decision to release this kind of movie to the current audience, the current climate of politics, and the current viewership that Philippine cinema has was in good faith but lacks consideration with regard to social and cultural contexts. Why is that?

The film sets the narrative with the present Ariel as he looks back to the years of friendship, struggle, and life with his former partner Maverick Relova. Although they happened to peak during my childhood, I have little memory of them thus I do not share the nostalgic vibe of the older audience upon viewing the tandem. And also, I do not always share the laughter with them when the duo's comedy becomes offensive, to an extent oppressive.

I would like to think it is a matter of comedic taste, then I remember it is a matter of time and age. By that I mean, the narrative relies heavily on old footage which was filmed during its inception - hence the brand of comedy back then greatly differs from the comedy I started getting conscious about growing up. They were funny, surely. Until they are not.

Cringe-worthy. Painful to watch and hear

As Ariel tries to get help from BIG PEOPLE - from his millionaire ex-girlfriend to President Duterte himself, in between are celebrities like Coco Martin, Jose Manalo, Eddie Garcia, et al., politicians such as Mayor Sarah Duterte, Isko Moreno, and Senator Go, Bato, and Trillanes among notable others, he attempts to be spontaneous while injecting his brand of comedy. Some are laughable, while most are cringe-worthy, even the cringiest I ever heard as to become painful to experience. Offering Trillanes a villain role if ever the controversial politician enters showbiz (you ought to understand the implied), asking Eddie Garcia whether his 'tool' still works only for the late actor to respond humorously (of course), catching Sarah Duterte off guard as Ariel confesses she looks like his Kinder crush,
 and more generic comedy that is now ineffective to an audience like me.


Although I laughed. Initially. I face-palmed. I cursed. The comedy comes ineffective because it capitalizes on an insensitive approach and impulsive manner of execution, let alone the political correctness or lack thereof. If that's clearly the case, then so much for political correctness of the intended jokes these days (or more of those days) and little to address the insensitiveness brought by discriminatory and stereotypical remarks.

A film that started acknowledging and previewing the filmmaker's sponsors makes a deliberate exhibition of gratitude. The writer-director-editor (the artist himself) achieves that only to sacrifice the dignity of the film, if there is such. Moreover, the 'main' film dated during their Hollywood fiasco only proves that the narrative has no integrity , that the realist approach of filming does not always conceive gratifying visuals, and that the storytelling is very much invested in dramatizing a conclusion since it was a personal aspiration that resonated with the struggles of the 'artists'.


Watching a bad film for free might compensate me from the poor experience (unfortunately, that does not work that way). The problem lies with the content - outdated and indifferent. Outdated not because it is an old material but because it tends to regress from a sane and reputable source of 'supposed' inspiration. Indifferent particularly because it may no longer serve a quality comedy that may hopefully resonate to the contemporary reception of humor and politics.

Although the Kings of Reality Show are truly kings of gritty but primitive, of dramatic yet underwhelming execution of an inspiring story of struggling artists, its merits include the dedication, style, and disruptive message delivered by the aspiring artists almost often seen as arrogant and nuisances.

Let me end this review by the first line of the film uttered by Ariel himself as he contemplates his damned situation which appears to be reflective of my personal take toward the film:

Mahirap ma-in-love sa sining ng komedya

 ---
15 November 2019

The author of this film review is a film student who was able to attend the Philippine Premier of the said movie at The University of the Philippines Film Center - Cine Adarna last November 15, 2019

This is JUST A FILM REVIEW (written for two hours after watching the film) and not a CRITICAL REVIEW NOR A CRITIQUE.

Discussions about contextual points on film REALISM, film rights, ethics, comedy, genre and style, political correctness, among others can be brought up.