My fourth movie: Stuck On You. Lets get right into it.
Directed by Mikko Baldoza, Stuck on You follows Sheryl/Cynthia, played by Xyriel Manabat, whose life takes an unexpected turn when she gets caught in a dangerous situation involving a job meant for a hitman. Along the way, she becomes connected to Max De Dios, played by River Joseph, bringing romance, comedy, family and chaos into one story. The premise is actually fun. There is enough absurdity here to make a really entertaining comedy, and I appreciated that the film doesn’t rely entirely on jokes. There is a story underneath all the craziness, particularly when it comes to family and the responsibilities we sometimes allow one person to carry for everyone.
Let’s watch the trailer
There is something about Stuck on You that made me feel like I was watching raw shots with minimal editing. Not necessarily in a bad way, but there are scenes where I could clearly see the intention of the joke, the setup and the punchline, yet somehow the final execution didn’t completely come together.
But as a comedy movie fan, I kept coming back to one thing: timing.
Some of the punchlines hit. Some didn’t. There were moments when I laughed because the joke was genuinely funny, but there were also scenes where I could almost feel the joke waiting for me to laugh—and unfortunately, I didn’t. That’s where I became confused about whether it was the editing, the delivery, or simply the timing of the performances. Comedy is incredibly dependent on rhythm. A pause in the right place can make an ordinary line hilarious. A reaction that comes a little too early can kill the joke.
And Stuck on You has several moments where I felt the timing could have been sharper.
There are also actors who seem more naturally comfortable with comedy than others. I found myself imagining certain scenes being performed by actors with stronger comedic instincts, because sometimes the material itself isn’t necessarily the problem. It’s how the line is delivered, how long the reaction is held, and when the scene cuts. I’m not trying to overanalyze the technical side of the screenplay or editing. I’m simply receiving the movie the way any audience member would: Did the joke land? Did the scene make me laugh? Did the moment feel natural?
For me, some did and some didn’t.
But then there’s Xyriel Manabat. As Sheryl/Cynthia, Xyriel knows exactly what she’s doing. She lifted this entire film through her performance. Her facial expressions are on point. Her reactions are on point. Her comedic timing is good. And even when a particular joke isn’t working as well as it should, Xyriel has this ability to find humor within the scene through her expressions and body language. That’s what I appreciated most about her performance.
She doesn’t need to force the comedy. Sometimes she simply looks at someone, reacts to what is happening, and lets the situation speak for itself. She understands that comedy isn’t always about delivering the funniest line. Sometimes it’s about how you react to the funniest line.
Xyriel gets that. And there were several moments when I thought, Okay, this is why she’s working.
River Joseph as Max De Dios is also very beautiful here. His character feels like something that suits him, and he has the screen presence for it.
What I felt was missing was a little more development in Max and his connection with Sheryl Cynthia. I wanted their relationship to feel more fluid and natural. Xyriel gives Sheryl so much personality that Max sometimes feels like he needs a little more material to make their connection equally compelling.
There’s chemistry, but I wanted more of a reason to become invested in them as a pair.
And this goes back to the writing for me. There are parts of Stuck on You that I think might actually read better on paper. The ideas are there. The situations are there. Some of the dialogue is clearly designed to be funny. But translating something from the page to the screen is a completely different experience.
And somewhere in that transition, some of the humor went flat for me. Still, I don’t want to spend the entire review talking about what didn’t work because there are things here that I genuinely enjoyed. One of them is the lesson about Filipino family dynamics. I liked how the movie touches on that very familiar Filipino habit of not doing something because someone in the family is already doing it for everyone. There is always that person who becomes the dependable one. The one who takes responsibility. The one who fixes everything. And because that person is already doing it, everyone else eventually becomes comfortable letting them carry the load.
It’s funny when you see it play out in a movie, but there is also a very real lesson underneath it. Sometimes, helping your family too much can make everyone else stop helping themselves. I thought that was a nice layer to have underneath what is otherwise a chaotic comedy. And yes, there were definitely funny moments that treated the audience.
I laughed. I enjoyed some of the situations. I appreciated the absurdity of the story. Most importantly, I enjoyed watching Xyriel commit completely to Sheryl. So while Stuck on You is not a perfect comedy, I also don’t think it deserves to be dismissed.
It has good ideas. It has funny moments. It has a message. It has River Joseph looking ridiculously good as Max De Dios. And it has Xyriel Manabat giving the kind of performance that makes you wish the entire movie around her had the same level of comedic precision. The punchlines may be hit or miss, but when they hit, they work. The writing has good ideas, even if some of them didn’t translate as strongly to the screen.
The editing could have been tighter. The comedic timing could have been more consistent. But ultimately, I think I’m okay with this movie. Because despite all the things I felt could have been improved, Stuck on You still gave me enough funny moments to enjoy the ride. And honestly, Xyriel Manabat lifted this entire thing. She knows what she’s doing. She understands the character. She understands the comedy. And sometimes, that’s exactly what you need from a movie like this.
3/5
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