MANILA, Philippines - Not many local movies live up fully to their promise, but for the first time in a long time, one has done just that.

Directed by Joyce Bernal and written by Vanessa Valdez, Star Cinema?s ?For the First Time,? starring KC Concepcion and Richard Gutierrez in their first team-up, gets the Pinoy chick flick formula right.

Crowd pleaser

On the surface, it looks very much like the usual ?blockbuster? affair that depends on bankable lead stars, a sentimental song and loads of ?kilig? scenes.

Well, the filmmakers took the formula, tore it apart, improved on the bits and pieces, and thoughtfully put it back together. The result is a picturesque, sweep-you-off-your feet crowd pleaser.

Much of it works because of KC and Richard. Portraying well-off kids who try to find their place in the sun but instead find each other in sun-drenched Santorini, Greece, the tandem is probably the closest this generation can get to the excitement generated by the young Gabby Concepcion and Sharon Cuneta.

Chemistry

KC as Sophia strives to be the perfect daughter of an overbearing father (Phillip Salvador). She pushes herself, at the expense of her own happiness. Richard plays Seth, a free-spirited playboy trying to find meaning in his carefree existence.

The inevitable happens when they meet. The spell of the Aegean sea and Santorini?s famous white-washed environs draw them together.

The pairing is a match made in show biz heaven. KC and Richard more than look good together. They also fit their respective roles and gel perfectly. It?s easy to picture them as well-off, star-crossed lovers in an exotic setting.

For the rest of the movie, their chemistry proves stronger than Santorini itself, sustaining audience interest even in the second half of the movie, when they?re back in the Philippines.

But the love team couldn?t have worked as well if not for the well-crafted story and detailed execution of almost all the scenes. First, everything needed to prop up the couple?s aspirational circumstances (but not in a snooty, alienating way) are present?the clothes, the accents (English, Greek)? making it easy for viewers to understand their individual motivations.

At its core, it?s really a simple boy-meets-girl affair, with the requisite split-up midway and eventual reunion. But the back stories?mostly KC?s? make the plot meaty without making it look ?forced? at all.

Imprint

Phillip Salvador?s character makes a definite imprint.

Even when the plot goes through a bit of a sketch (one moment KC hates Richard, the next she?s falling hard for him), or when the situations are too cinematic (at one point Richard gathers all his exes and they all come!), in the hands chick-flick maker Joyce Bernal, it?s easy to look beyond the little bumps and still hold the movie in high regard.

Almost everything else works well, too, including the co-stars?particularly Candy Pangilinan, whose comic timing never fails to elicit guiltless laughter.

Beautiful shots

It?s a beautifully-shot movie, and not only in the usual way aimed at eliciting dreamy sighs from female viewers. The music is also good. Even the use of the title track, ?For the First Time,? sung by KC in the requisite montage, achieves the desired effect.

The star of the movie is, undoubtedly, KC Concepcion. Not just because she?s pretty, which she is, but because she?s genuinely charming and funny.