LOVE and the choice between stability and adventure are at the heart of Mae Czarina Cruz-Alviar’s 2025 Metro Manila Film Festival entry, “Love You So Bad.”
The story delves into the life of Savannah Aquino (Bianca de Vera), a driven and passionate college senior often perceived as carefree and unrestrained—a character de Vera brings to life with ease.
She finds herself torn between two men: bad boy and chick magnet L.A. Dolores (Dustin Yu) and principled and ambitious Vic Alvarez (Will Ashley), all while struggling with academics and family pressures.
The film pays homage to the classic Filipino rom-com “Dahil Mahal Na Mahal Kita,” directed by Wenn Deramas.
Cruz-Alviar subverts the traditional love triangle trope by exploring themes beyond romance, including gender, self-love, and the tension between freedom and societal expectations.
Part of the excitement surrounding the film comes from fans of the “DustBia” (Yu and de Vera) and “WillCa” (Ashley and de Vera) tandems, with audiences eager to see the chemistry between the pairings as their characters’ stories unfold.
Despite its classic rom-com influence and familiar love triangle, the film struggles to establish a cohesive storytelling rhythm. Its back-and-forth construction—alternating between Savannah’s perspective of L.A. and Vic—can feel ambiguous. The uneven pacing results in abrupt transitions between narratives and timelines, which may confuse viewers.
Amid the carousel of dynamics among the three leads, an underlying theme of self-love and personal discovery carries greater weight, shaping both the narrative and Savannah’s growth.
In many ways, “Love You So Bad” adopts a feminist lens, with Savannah overcoming stereotypes and labels that dictate what women should or should not be.
