Fely Malabaño (Nova Villa) is a feisty and bossy 70-year old woman whose constant nagging caused her daughter-in-law, Angie, so much stress, that it sends the younger woman to the hospital. Her only son, Ramon, decides it was finally time for his mother to be sent in a retirement home where he thinks she’d be happier. To escape the possibility, she wanders through the night and finds a photo studio, whose owner promises her to bring back her 20-year old self.
The film never really finds this an anomaly, that Fely literally returns to her younger self, and leaves the photo studio as the young lady, Audrey de Leon (Sarah Geronimo).
She then sets out on an adventure of rediscovering her youth and the dreams she never really was able to realize when she was still young. A vital part of this adventure includes becoming the lead singer of her grandson’s metal band, and transforming it to a “less rowdy” pop group.
The connection immediately comes palpable that Jeboy (James Reid), her grandson, instantly feels a sense of recognition, finding Audrey’s presence mysterious yet necessary.
Eventually, the band draws the attention of a music producer and inevitably throws Audrey into the spotlight. Suddenly, her dreams are coming true.
There is not a single moment in ‘Miss Granny’ where Sarah Geronimo stops shining. She is a diamond made to shine in this film. As it is, the movie’s premise is interesting enough to warrant attention, but it is Geronimo’s quirk and charm that ultimately makes it explode with a more reasonant and lovelier appeal.
And though, Geronimo’s engagement in the film’s broad comedy may not be as memorable as her stirring musical performances, it provides a pretty illustration of her dexterity to gracefully meander into the emotionally shifting parts of her character and the narrative.
This very same dexterity motivates the story to carrying this crazy amount of emotional weight that makes the film more than merely a weird exercise of traditional comedy, turning it to a potent, heartwarming portrait of youth, love, and dreams.
Interestingly, the defining moments of the film are more confined in fragments that are practically abandoned to make way for the imposingly oversized characters in the plot.
A big chunk of such characters revolve around the crazy idea of a reclaimed youth and the humorous adventures wrapped around its insane possibility. Though occasionally stalled at arguably redundant sections of the story, the film arrives in emotionally-rich final moments whose heartfelt and sentimental appeal touches the rarely pondered-upon sore spots of dying and wasted youth.
‘Miss Granny’ never really entirely digs into the crazy depth of those sentiments, but it creates a lovely narrative, albeit oddly-woven, that ultimately hits audience squarely in the heart.
