Meet the Salazar sisters: Teddie (Toni Gonzaga) is a waitress and housekeeper in Spain; Bobbie (Bea Alonzo) is a corporate communications manager in New York City; Alex (Angel Locsin) is a filmmaker; and Gabbie (Shaina Magadayao) is a teacher. When their kid brother C.J. (Enchong Dee) reveals he's getting hitched to his girlfriend Princess (Angeline Quinto), the girls return home to the Philippines at the request of their mother Grace (Connie Reyes). Then, fearing C.J. is jumping the gun and with a dislike of Princess and her family, the sisters collectively plot to stop the wedding. But while they work at that, they also have to face some long-buried conflicts and home truths with each other.
This 2013 Filipino rom-com, available on Netflix, from director Cathy Garcia-Molina and writer Vanessa Valdez begins promisingly and charmingly, but gradually becomes an overlong and predictable soap opera with very cliched characters whom the cast, while all genuinely talented, can only make engaging to a point. The standout in Toni Gonzaga, but she does have the emotionally meatiest role here by quite a margin. The dialogue's quality varies and the narrative has potential to explore romance and marriage from a specifically Filipino cultural perspective, but instead it ultimately takes the hackneyed and cloying Hollywood route. This extends to the soundtrack, with a sappy score instead of contemporary Filipino music.
Overall Four Sisters and a Wedding is (barely) tolerable, but definitely not a movie I'd suggest for an example of an alternative to a Western cinematic romance.
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