At first glance, writer-director Jun Robles Lana’s passion project may seem like your typical quirky teenage romcom—but this one comes with a twist. As the title suggests, the premise follows a social media-obsessed college student, Norma (Sue Ramirez), who discovers that she has EHS, or electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome. Simply put, Norma is allergic to WiFi—her nose bleeds every time she is exposed to electromagnetic signals. As a result, not only does she have to move into her grandmother’s signal-free house in the province, but she also has to leave her basketball player boyfriend, Leo (Markus Paterson), behind. Unbeknownst to her, Leo’s younger brother, Aries (Jameson Blake), who also serves as the movie’s narrator, is secretly in love with her.
With its vibrant color scheme, winsome cast, and unorthodox story, Ang Babaeng Allergic sa WiFi seems like the perfect feel-good romance. However, it proves just the opposite. The film starts off promising enough: Lighthearted, sweet, and set to an upbeat soundtrack consisting of throwback and new OPM, like Eraserheads songs and Keiko Necesario music, respectively. There’s a montage of moments as Aries falls for Norma, only to be crushed when he finds out she’s dating his brother. From then on, however, it slowly deviates from the main plot. Sure, there are trademark romcom storylines: Norma and Leo slowly growing apart, and Aries being there for her, for example. But there are also many minor plot points—everything from family issues to friendship problems—that they ultimately sidetrack the movie. It becomes difficult to follow the story, let alone see where it’s going.
While the actors are lovable and charismatic, it’s clear that they can only go so far with a subpar script. The dialogue is realistic enough, and funny even; however, it gets weighed down by an inconsistent plot and poor character development. Decisions made by the leads are decidedly unnatural and seldom make sense, especially in relation to their personalities. What follows is a movie that hardly resonates its romantic premise. In fact, with its odd twists and turns, the credits roll to a potentially heartbreaking, but only lackluster, resolution.
Audiences may go in expecting a trite reminder of the dangers of social media, maybe even a love story. Instead, they get only a bittersweet tribute to the nonsensicality of youth, which would have been fine, had it not been executed so poorly. The entirety of the movie shares zero similarities with its trailers. One might even say that the latter, which contains several clips cut from the movie, tells the story better. Although the film understandably tries its best to be different, it might have fared better had it stuck with the usual romcom recipe.
Despite its unique ambitions and good intentions, Ang Babaeng Allergic sa WiFi fails at what truly matters: connecting with the audience. Nestled beneath its convoluted plot could be the expected message of disconnecting from the Internet to connect more with others, but ironically, even that meaning is lost.
Photo retrieved from the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino Facebook page.
