GAGAMBOY (Philippines, 2004)
Directed by: Erik Matti
Starring: Vhong Navarro, Jay Manaol, Aubrey Miles

Spider-Man by way of John Waters, jacked up on a shot of distilled Jerry Lewis stupidity, GAGAMBOY is the sweetest, silliest superhero flick you’ve never seen. A send-up of Spider-Man, this movie’s hero lives in the ghetto. His costume is made of leftover junk and forget about saving the world — he just wants to keep his neighborhood safe. Junie (Vhong Navarro) is an ice cream vendor who’s looking at a future spent peddling popsicles in the park, until he swallows a radioactive spider and transforms into…GAGAMBOY, capable of clinging to walls, lifting 40 times his own weight, and discharging a suggestive orange goop from his hands. His girlfriend, Liana (Aubrey Miles), is being romanced by his evil co-worker, Dodoy (Jay Manalo) who has secretly swallowed a cockroach and is transformed into an evil and disgusting human/cockroach hybrid named…IPISMAN! (boo…hisss…)

Shot in the pulpy pop colors of Filipino comic books and set in a studio-built ghetto that looks like the set from John Waters’ Desperate Living, GAGAMBOY is a movie that takes itself so lightly a viewer looking for a point might get confused. The movie is a showcase for brand new Filippino comic star, Vhong Navarro, to show off his dead-on comic timing (he’s like a young Stephen Chow), and a cast of ace comedians fill in the gaps. The action scenes are right out of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, only intentionally so, and the movie never loses sight of its motto: With Great Power Comes Great Stupidity.