Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

Starring Jo Koy, Brandon Wardell, Lydia Gaston, Eugene Cordero

Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar

There's been a surge of films and television series that have been more representative, focusing on different worlds than just the traditional straight white family dynamic, with huge success. Shows like "Pose," "Black-ish," and "Fresh Off the Boat" have shined light on different minorities that the general populous might never have seen, and it's refreshing to see Hollywood taking these "risks" that wouldn't have been done decades earlier. Comedian Jo Koy is best known for his standup comedy centering around his Filipino heritage, but for years now he's wanted to do a full-length movie that sheds light on the family dynamic, and no one picked it up out of fears that it wouldn't be relatable, but he finally got "Easter Sunday" made - and while it does have a lot of heart and humor, it seemed almost like a caricature or stereotype of the typical Filipino family.

Joe Valencia (Jo Koy) is a standup comic who just auditioned for a television pilot, but before he could get the job he's told by his manager (Jay Chandrasekhar) that they want him to talk in his "Filipino accent," to which he's apprehensive about. Meanwhile, he's hounded by his mother Susan (Lydia Gaston) to come to San Francisco to visit for Easter Sunday, and he agrees to go with his son Junior (Brandon Wardell), who feels estranged from his father due to him always being too busy. After arriving at his mother's house, he learns that she's not talking to her sister Tita Teresa (Tia Carrere), and his cousin Eugene (Eugene Cordero) purchased a "Hype Truck" from Joe's money, to which he gave thinking it was going to be a taco truck. While Joe tries to bring Susan and Tia together, he's confronted by Dev Deluxe (Asif Ali), who claims Eugene robbed him of his stuff worth $40,000, and wants the money by the end of the day. Joe and Eugene try to find the money while trying to bring the family together, while also mending his own diminishing relationship with his son and trying to stay alive.

Anyone who's seen Jo Koy's standup comedy knows that he delivers the goods, using his natural comedic timing to humorously tell stories about being Filipino and the family he grew up with. It would seem like a no-brainer to transfer that to the big screen, but something got lost in the translation. While the film did deliver on the comedy, it only came when he was doing his standup bit (his act during church service was downright hilarious), or when he was interacting with other comedians like Tiffany Haddish and Jimmy O. Yang. The rest of the film was a miss mostly, relying on tired repetitive shticks and stereotypical family arguments that really didn't incite anything more than a few chuckles from the audience. Whether it's his agent continually ending calls by saying he's traveling through some tunnel, or how everyone knows Joe as "that beer commercial guy" with the extremely cringy slogan, "Easter Sunday" feels like one of those boring Easter Sunday services that you're dragged to with the family.

There's heart in the film and that's without a doubt, because there has to be. You know how these types of films turn out: the estranged father/son comes together, the family unites under a common threat, and everyone lives happily ever after. These aren't spoilers because there's nothing out of the box when it comes to this by-the-books family comedy, something that we've seen time and again despite the fantastic cast. It was refreshing to see Filipino actors playing to their strengths, and maybe I don't understand it because I'm not Filipino, but it all felt formulaic and simple - safe and easy, aiming for the low fruit of comedy in hopes of landing something gut-busting, but it just never happened.

Jo Koy does do a decent job at trying to salvage the film, but spends most of it in a depressive state as he struggles to find a career, care for his son, and bring his dysfunctional family together to be as funny as he is when he's standing alone on stage. Throwing in a ludicrous story about shady loan sharks and a pair of stolen boxing gloves, and you've got an easily forgettable film that won't leave any lasting impression - even as you're leaving the theater and getting in your car.

The Score: C-