Toto

The Philippines comedy-drama Toto has a cute opening in which the titular character (Sid Lucero), a hotel service attendant living and working in Manila, wakes up to his own inner joy over American pop culture. Opening a drawer full of sunglasses similar to those worn by his hero, Tom Cruise, Toto dons a pair reminiscent of Cruise’s shades in Jerry Maguire ('You complete me,' Toto tells himself in a mirror). Well, not quite complete. Driven by a dream to find fame and fortune in the U.S., Toto applies for a visa but is turned down. Frustrated and thwarted, he follows a friend’s advice about appearing to come from a family of aristocratic bluebloods. In reality, his own father is a bit of a nut and his mother is a complaining crank, so Toto constructs a false family made up of handpicked friends and strangers. The central question becomes how far Toto will go to get what he wants, which sounds interesting on paper, but director John Paul Su turns the film into a series of lurching jokes and unwieldy clashes. Su shoots scenes with an undisciplined whimsicality that not only grates but also seems remote from the high-stakes game that Toto is playing. Not recommended. (T. Keogh)