Alden Richards once again proves his gift for acting in Irene Villamor's romantic-drama Five Breakups and a Romance. He demonstrates a nuanced, naturalistic performance as Lance, a 30-something privileged guy who falls in lust with Julia Montes' Justine.

Richards has already proven that he's more than just a pretty boy in his 2019 romantic-drama opposite Kathryn Bernardo in Hello, Love, Goodbye. Four years later, as Lance in Five Breakups, the 31-year-old actor is still effortless.

The movie is divided into chapters like a book, beginning with a "prologue" where we first meet Lance and Justine, the only single ones in a group of friends attending a concert in Singapore. Lance is a tourist, while Justine is based in the Lion City with a glamorous career in fashion.

Clearly, it's instant attraction between the two, and Villamor's signature visual language glamorizes the pair's eye contact and pre-mating ritual.

If Celine Song's overhyped Korean love story Past Lives (2023) talks about inyeon (providence or fate), here Lance talks about quantum entanglement — or two souls brought together by "destiny" and are continuously connected to one another "even when separated by vast distances."

In the dazzling city of Singapore at night, backdropped by the city's modern skyscrapers, the Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion Park, the two get to know each other, flirt and soon after, kiss passionately before ending up sleeping together. What starts out as a one-night stand ends up a permanent relationship.

Unremarkable chapters
The story, however, fails to emotionally connect. Sure, there is enough chemistry between the two beautiful stars, but because Villamor takes the viewer only to the highlights of the relationship, it strips the story of heart and soul. Each chapter feels more like information on the state of their relationship rather than a journey.

Villamor's chapters are unremarkable and crammed with banal conversations. The chapters do not provide opportunities for us to get to know the characters on a deeper level, or involve us in the evolution of their relationship.

The first chapter is mildly interesting — we find the pair one year into the relationship. They fight by the poolside inside a swanky Alabang house. Richards' Lance is revealed to be an insecure med student with daddy issues and unsure of what he wants.

Lance's dark side is interesting; Richards delivers his lines with an outstanding range of emotions. Montes' Justine, however, is unlucky to have been given weak lines and rebuttals.

After the fight, the movie immediately fizzles into a dull story of a couple that does not grow on us. Their personalities, issues and chitchats are spectacularly boring. They are mere sketches, one-note characters that do not earn our sympathy.

Unfortunately, Richards is the sole gem in this tepid non-story. He is the only unforgettable part in this forgettable tale.

Overall, Five Breakups is a paper-thin, hackneyed love story masked by gorgeous visuals. A visual spectacle without drama or romance. Even if you just came from a recent breakup, nothing in this drama resonates.

It's another one of those mainstream Filipino films that merely rely on pretty cinematography and dramatic coloring — and, of course, bankable stars — without putting much thought into the story.

1 out of 5 stars / in cinemas