‘Monday First Screening’ Netflix Movie Review - Cinema Love

There is a made-for-TV cheapness and sentimentality in Benedict Mique's Monday First Screening. The images are over-lit, the actors act too sincerely, and the film wears its heart on its sleeves. The already sugary emotions are further dipped into the bowl of mushiness. The filmmakers probably want to give us diabetes. The movie has a "big heart," and it moves you so much that you feel like throwing up. Monday First Screening's warm hug is so tight that it becomes suffocating. You don't watch the film. You eagerly wait for the end credits.

Its one-line premise is promising: Two single old people find romance under the roof of movies. Lydia (Gina Alajar), a retired professor, finds new friends and the love of her (remaining) life when she attends a screening. Apparently, every 60+ year-old citizen can watch the first screening every Monday for free. Lydia hesitates initially, but the other senior citizens instantly strike a friendship with her and force her to watch the movie. It's here she meets Bobby (Ricky Davao), a retired architect, who is immediately smitten with the lady.

Bobby's cheesy texts, as well as his efforts to develop physical strength to compete with another suitor, are all chuckle-worthy. Alajar and Davao have a breezy presence. They look comfortable in each other's company. But Monday First Screening, which Mique wrote with Aya Anunciacion, has nothing else to offer to the audience (at least, there is nothing pleasant). Where do I even begin? Let's start with that second suitor, David (Ian Ignacio), Lydia's ex-student. He tells Lydia that he finds her attractive. I never found his feelings to be authentic. You can strongly feel that the writers merely want to give rise to a conflict. David's affection looks sorely unconvincing. The movie mines a few feeble laughs from the competition between him and Bobby. After that, he is pushed to the sidelines.

Since the focus is on old people, Monday First Screening squeezes in other problems like mandatory retirement, elderly individuals being seen as a burden by their family members, and family members calling their old parents for selfish reasons. All of these issues are merely touched upon. It feels as if the movie is just checking some boxes. I wondered if Monday First Screening is flipping through all these subjects, will it also take a brief look at the "young people disapproving of the older people's romance" angle? Hence, I was not surprised when Lydia's daughter told Lydia to stay away from Bobby. Her reasons, however, turn out to be different. Still, they sound unbelievable as the words come out from a stick figure. The only appealing scene here arrives just before the end credits, where we observe old people - some invested, some sleeping, some talking - watching a film. As far as the other images are concerned, they fade from your memory.

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times