The genre of romantic comedy has dried up in recent pop culture. Every meet-cute rom-com that is produced today ultimately borrows its ideas from a pre-existing rom-com. Therefore, a rom-com’s merit is decided by how well the movie depicts the same old genre markers and whether or not they succeed in grafting elements of reality into the same. An Inconvenient Love (2022), directed by Petersen Vargas, is a Philippine rom-com that lifts the most genre-defining elements of a romantic comedy and gives them a spin. It struggles to keep the romance between Ayef and Manny from becoming saccharine sweet, but this is a world of young love, and it is not so difficult to buy.
In fact, despite being every bit predictable, this film is so feel-good that I found myself tearing up in happiness during one of the final scenes. Surprisingly, the backdrop of the film was the most intriguing for me. Instead of portraying a fancy, rich world full of long drives in shiny cars and picture-perfect restaurants, Ayef and Manny eat at roadside restaurants and go on a date to IKEA. This IKEA date idea has to be my favorite moment from the film because of how flirtatious and fun it all was.
Obviously, the film is juggling with too much background story, and the same is difficult to cover in 124 minutes. As a result, the conflict is watered down, and some primary characters are never explored to the audience’s satisfaction, but it is still a pretty solid film to enjoy on a weekend if you are in the mood for it. The fast-paced nature of the plot may be a little difficult to keep up with, so we have unpacked the story and its ending for better understanding below. SPOILERS ALERT!
An Inconvenient Love (2022) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
The film opens at a protest meeting. A group of workers from a corporation has gathered here to protest against the unfair amount of wage being paid to them by the corporation. At this meet, a mask-wearing activist enters the crowd to supply the protesters with water bottles. But soon, chaos breaks out, and the police start to chase this masked activist. Simultaneously, we are introduced to Ayef (played by Bella Mariano), an aspiring animator who works at a 24-Ever store. She is on her way to work when the fleeing masked activist runs into her.
He quickly attempts to change his costume while asking Ayef to help him in his crisis. Soon, the cops arrive at the scene, and the two behave like they are in a relationship. Ayef even proposes to kiss the stranger to prove to the cops that they are in a relationship, but the cops let them go. The stranger introduces himself as Manny (played by Donny Pangilinan). Ayef and Manny are quickly flirtatious in the way they interact, and Manny leaves his umbrella with Ayef in hopes of meeting again someday.
Unfortunately, they barely know anything about each other to find each other out for the second meeting. Ayef tells her friends and co-workers about Manny, and soon they start looking out for each customer visiting the store, even teasing Ayef when they find her eagerly waiting for him to turn up. Ayef and her friends are ruminating about finding Manny when they find a poster of Manny; he seems to own a boutique plant shop. They send word via the workers at the shop for Manny to come and meet Ayef.
Finally, Manny comes to the store and quickly realizes that he is enchanted by Ayef. He proposes to take her out for dinner, and she gives him only fifteen minutes to impress her. They get some food at a roadside shack, and he confesses to her that he likes her. He keeps coming back to the shop, and their playful flirtation continues.
In the meantime, we come to learn that Ayef has applied to a firm in Singapore where she wants to pursue an internship in animation. She is constantly distressed by the fights between her parents at home over their unstable economic conditions. We also learn that Manny is the son and heir of the head of the corporation against which the protest was being held at the beginning of the film. He refuses to join his father’s business, but the latter is insistent about the same since Manny’s brother, Dobs (played by JC Alcantara), suffers from ASD.
After a particularly bad fight at home, Ayef meets Manny, and together they discuss the utopian idea of love that only warrants happiness and convenience. Soon, they decide to get into a relationship and sign a contract that comes with an expiry date for their relationship to keep matters from getting too complicated.
They call this ‘convenient love.’ Manny and Ayef start spending more and more time with each other now while the days and months roll towards the expiry date of their relationship, October 4th. But Manny and Ayef start to fall for each other, and the ugly, messy side of love starts showing itself. Do Manny and Ayef end up together? It is a rom-com that helps two young lovers unlearn their ideas about love and keep each other from tearing apart.
Why is Ayef afraid of committing to a relationship?
It is revealed to us through bits and pieces of conversation that Ayef has with her friends and with Manny that she had once fallen head over heels in love with someone. Unfortunately, the relationship had found Ayef becoming too obsessed with the person and distracted from her personal goals and family in the process. The experience with that relationship was so sour for Ayef that she chose to conveniently stay away from the messiness of love since she always thought of it as a destructive force.
What are the markers of Manny and Ayef’s relationship?
Manny and Ayef sketch a contract to dictate the terms of their relationship. Ayef begins by conjecturing that the relationship must always give them happiness and it must be devoid of all kinds of cheesy gestures, including celebrating regular milestones in their relationship and being addressed by cute nicknames or the standard ‘baby,’ ‘love,’ etc. She also sets down the three Cs in their relationship – consent, compromise, and convenience. Lastly, she says that the relationship must come with a deadline to keep the love quick and easy to get in and out of.
An Inconvenient Love (2022) Movie Ending, Explained:
On Manny’s birthday, Manny invites Ayef to their house for a family dinner. At this dinner, Manny’s father and mother create a scene and insult Manny and his choice of a girlfriend. His father also commands him to join his business, and his mother belittles Dobs for his ASD in front of everyone. The dinner is interrupted due to all of this. Manny tries to flee the scene with Ayef, but she expresses that she needs some space and wants to spend some time with herself. Despite his repeated apologies, Ayef says that she is confused and afraid about their relationship.
She expresses her doubts about Manny’s inability to stand up for himself. Ayef confesses that she is almost willing to give up on everything, including her Singapore dream to be with Manny, but she doesn’t want to become her parents, fighting at all times. She doesn’t want to feel regretful about having chosen Manny as her partner for life. She is scared because she doesn’t know how to love another person without hurting them. Manny says that Ayef has too many excuses and is likely to bail out of the relationship when he starts feeling like an inconvenience. He also calls her a coward for desiring a perfect love that is non-existent.
Ayef returns home that night only to find her parents fighting again. This time, her father protests against her mother’s accusations and confesses how he constantly tries to do something for the family and her because he loves her. The next morning, Ayef’s mother tells her that she has withdrawn from applying for the cruise because Ayef is going to Singapore to fulfill her dreams. She also apologizes to Ayef because she believes in the pursuit of trying to provide her with a good lifestyle. She may have ended up teaching her about family and love in the wrong way. Manny also confronts his father when he tries to force him about the job and beats up Dobs.
Soon, the day of Ayef’s departure to Singapore arrives, and it is coincidentally the same day as the prescribed expiry date of Ayef and Manny’s relationship. They realize that they must fulfill the last term of the relationship contract and meet each other at the same spot where they first met. They arrive at the place but not in time and find each other at a protest meeting again. This time, they hug each other and promise to wait for each other to come on the same page again. The story ends in the most quintessential rom-com way while I am left to secretly hope that Ayef made it just in time for her departing flight to Singapore.
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