Note: very minor spoilers for this film are present.
Dante Gulapa, the internet phenom who has a small cameo in Boy2 Quizon's I'm Ellenya L, perfectly embodies the message the film is trying to get across: in a social media ecosystem where "content" is quickly becoming more staged and artificial, Gulapa feels genuine and unpretentious. He made his videos because he wanted to entertain people. In his own words, 'katuwaan lang.' In contrast with other films that look at the vapidity of influencer culture such as the twin documentaries Fyre and Fyre Fraud, I'm Ellenya L casts no judgement on its young protagonists or calls for the rejection of this culture. Instead, it concedes that the culture exists; we might as well be ourselves while we're living in it.
Wrapped around this message is a fairly light romantic comedy. Fans of the Inigo Pascual-Maris Racal loveteam will have much to like here.
The third act takes the story into a bizarre, yet also hilarious turn as it tries to squeeze the story into a more mainstream-oriented ending. It touches lightly on cyberbullying but doesn't go deeper into the consequences of the bullying, and offers a solution that works a little too well. Ultimately, despite the film's flaws, it manages to overcome them with a ton of charm.
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