Meet, Greet & Bye was the highest-grossing local film in 2025. Produced by ABS-CBN Studios and Star Cinema, it was said to have earned P260 million worldwide.

The film had its public exhibition in November 2025. By February 2026, it was already on Netflix. Is it still any wonder why attendance is very low in movie theaters?

Meet, Greet & Bye perhaps should have been entered as an entry in the last Metro Manila Film Festival, which was such a huge flop, its organizers were embarrassed to release figures after the festival. Meet, Greet & Bye could have trounced Vice Ganda’s Call Me Mother as the top-grosser. It is a family drama, after all — the type of movie that is popular during the annual filmfest.

Directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana, Meet, Greet & Bye is the tale of a family where Maricel Soriano is the widowed matriarch. She the proprietress of a lechon (roasted pig) business that sells an average of two hogs a day. That is when they are lucky. A whole lechon now sells anywhere between P8,000 to P10,000. The P14,000 whole lechon is for the jumbo size, which Maricel’s business doesn’t sell.

Take out the cost of the hogs, charcoal and other essentials to make roasted pigs and how much is left from the sales? Is the profit enough to run a big household that doesn’t seem to be scrimping on its budget?

The way the characters are presented in the story is just as messy as the accounting skills of the creators of this film. Soriano and Piolo Pascual are mother and son? But there’s only a 12-year difference between them!

Joshua Garcia and Juan Karlos (he already dropped his Labajo surname in his screen credits) are Maricel’s two other sons in the story. But who is the older sibling? Juan Karlos actually looks older — maybe because of his build. It is Joshua, however, who is the “kuya” (older brother) because he really is older than Juan Karlos by three years in real life. But it takes a while for the viewer to figure out who is older or younger in the movie.

And the character of Belle Mariano? Is she the daughter of Soriano in the film? Thank heavens for Netflix, the viewer is able to rewind to find out what she is to Maricel. As it turns out, she is Maricel’s granddaughter — Belle being the offspring of Pascual. Whew! Now that everything is finally clear in the viewer’s head, it is time to enjoy Meet, Greet & Bye.

There is a lot to appreciate in this film. The major conflict involves Maricel, whose cancer has returned. She refuses to undergo chemotherapy again and there is this ode to her old blockbuster film, Kaya Kong Abutin ang Langit. Remember the iconic line where she spurts: “Ayoko ng masikip! Ayoko ng putik…”?

This time, she cries out: “Ayoko nang mabaon sa utang! Ayoko nang masuka, etc.” It is an effective scene, but one has to be perceptive and a true fan of Tagalog movies to be able to relish this homage to Kaya Kong Abutin ang Langit that dates back to 1984.

Maricel only agrees to do chemo treatments if her children are able to provide her tickets to the personal appearance of her favorite K-Pop idol. As any Gen-Z knows, it is not that easy to have access to those events — even if one has the budget to pay for the entrance fee.

One has to go to the internet and wait for hours online for ticket reservation. Or camp out – in the case of this movie, at the Araneta Coliseum – just to purchase tickets. Whether Maricel’s kids succeed or not in buying tickets for her big K-Pop event is one of the suspenseful elements of Meet, Greet & Bye.

Each child, of course, has his own sub-plot. Piolo, for instance, returns to the Philippines after spending decades in Los Angeles, where he has his own restaurant. But it is revealed early on that he has financial problems prior to coming home to attend the college graduation of his daughter, Belle.

Juan Karlos doesn’t finish college because he becomes a young father before he even gets to complete his schooling. He relies on gigs here and there as a musician.

In the case of Joshua, he is forced to embrace the role of the male head of the household in the absence of Piolo. He is the one who runs the roast pig business and has to give up his dream of joining his girlfriend Kaila Estrada in New Zealand to work as a nurse.

The mini-plot of Joshua works wonderfully — thanks to the casting of Kaila, who, in real life, is the daughter of respected actors John Estrada and Janice de Belen. Kaila has a very strong presence (matched by a distinct modulated voice) that fires up the screen. She is able to make even small sub-stories major moments in movies.

Kaila creates the same magic in UnHappy for You (2024), where she also plays a secondary part to Joshua. Her inclusion in Meet, Greet & Bye — even if she appears only in a few scenes — is good enough reason to catch this family drama on Netflix.

Meet, Greet & Bye isn’t exactly one of Garcia-Sampana’s best works. In fact, it is one of her more inferior ones. This movie is sloppily laid out and has a lot of loopholes. And yet, Meet, Greet & Bye remains engaging as a film.

Credit goes to the cast members. Meet, Greet & Bye is the first out-and-out maternal role of Maricel. Why, she is even a grandmother here to Belle, who is way past her teens. Is she now this generation’s Rosa Aguirre, a pre-war actress who took in mother parts on TV and in the movies from the 1950s to the 1970s?

How long has it been since she was launched in under-age? Apparently — even at any age (she is now 61) — Maricel is a joy to watch. In Meet, Greet & Bye, she has no qualms playing an elderly woman with sunspots and greying hair. It’s professionalism at its finest.

That Piolo is able to deliver in this movie should no longer come as a surprise. He already won critical acclaim as early as the time of his launching in Lagarista in 2000. He simply breezes through his scenes here in Meet, Greet & Bye. It is an effortless performance that he gives even in the high drama of the movie toward the end.

Belle, one of the loveliest faces in entertainment today, clearly has what it takes to become a serious drama actress. Her role doesn’t require much, but she manages to shine in the film nevertheless. And she doesn’t seem conscious of the fact that she is pretty and never allows her looks to interfere in her performance in the movie.

Juan Karlos first caught the attention of the general public with his hit single — the hard to sing “Buwan.” In time, he was appearing in movies and proved to be good even in the acting department. In 2024, he was this close to clinching the Urian best supporting actor trophy for his performance in Blue Room. He lost by one vote to the veteran Soliman Cruz in the same movie.

Juan Karlos is so comfortable in his skin that in Meet, Greet & Bye, he is still a delight to watch even when he is just being foolish. His character as the happy-go-lucky son is important in the story because that is what provides the light moments when the dramatic highlights in the film start getting to be too heavy.

It is Joshua, however, who delivers the best performance in the entire movie. Again, that is no longer new information because even as early as 10 years ago — in Vince, Kath & James — he already received an Urian acting nomination for that film. In Meet, Greet & Bye, he plays a complex character as the burdened son, who has to makes sacrifices for his family — and is hardly appreciated for it. His performance is tempered and never goes overboard even in his dramatic scenes. Joshua had long been hailed as the new John Lloyd Cruz. But had he entered the entertainment profession when cinema was at its peak, he could have been bigger and a better actor than John Lloyd.

Meet, Greet & Bye may lack polish, but it is still entertaining to watch. It has knots begging to be untangled, but all that can be forgiven since the sterling performances of the actors make up for the film’s shortcomings.

For parts that are difficult to comprehend, just watch, rewind – before deciding to kiss this film goodbye. The viewer will finally get a clearer picture of the family dynamics in the second viewing, which isn’t really a pain to do since the film has its good points, too.

That’s the beauty of streaming services. Whoever said that cinema is dead probably doesn’t subscribe to Netflix.