The "Thank You" Girls

"The 'Thank You' Girls" is a Visayan film with a gay lingo twist.

Tired of losing in all the beauty competitions in Davao City, five dysfunctional gay beauty pageant veterans decide to travel north to Cagayan de Oro City, in the island of Mindanao.

Their mission: to conquer the grandest competition of beauty, personality and brains in the whole province.

They believe that being city dwellers, gays in the province will never stand a chance against them.

(courtesy of their official site.)

I saw clips of the movie being shown on a local tv channel and got interested. Unlike most gay indie films, this is relatable to straight and gay people alike, young and old. I was able to watch it with my co-workers on its last day at the movies. I was amazed at how they had shown parts of my hometown (Davao). How inviting the place looked like. Their "roadtrip" adventure to gay beauty pageants had few dull moments. Everyone was in character. Except for that Carlos guy who couldn't speak in fuckin straight Visayan. His Tagalog accent made it awkward to even listen to him. How I wish they would have made him mute instead. *haha*

Still, I did appreciate the movie. The witty lines and certain scenes. Gie Salonga, who's a half-brother/sister of the Lea Salonga, is in the movie. I honestly didn't know anything about him not until my friend told me about his family thing with Lea S. And to think he didn't have any Visayan or what-not blood in him and he could speak the dialect perfectly. (Of course, he had a tutor for that.) Still, he pulled it off quite well.

The lives of the heroines in this movie are shown through the eyes of their beloved jeepney (Char Lang) *really, that's the name of the jeepney*. You can even find some quottable quotes from the lines they throw.

I recommend this movie for those barkadas, families and just plain people-who-know-each-other-as-acquaintances. It's not dangerous for the faint of heart, so you can pretty much enjoy this movie. (Understanding the gay lingo beforehand is a plus as well.)

And for reading this post, I thank you very much.

Giving this movie, 3 stars (out of five of course).