Hello, Love, Again (2024)

Hello, Love, Again can’t decide if it’s a swoony reunion romance or an honest look at what Filipino workers abroad give up, so it flips between the two mid-scene. One thread starts in 2020, when the lockdown strands Ethan (Alden Richards) in Calgary with his fiancée Joy (Kathryn Bernardo), and months under one roof crack the engagement. The other picks up three years later. Joy works at a care home and has her eye on a nursing job in the States when Ethan and his buddy Jhim land in Canada looking for work. A mix-up over a phone number snowballs into a bold plan: spend a year living together as common-law partners, on paper only. Bernardo and Richards still spark, and that setup is a great rom-com engine. The Calgary community around them barely gets sketched in. It made $2.63 million in North America. A 6.4 because the leads soar while the script keeps changing lanes. $84.01 says you look up what a Calgary winter feels like and start shopping for a heavier coat.

What works: Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards still have real chemistry, and the paperwork-only living arrangement gives the romance a fun, high-stakes engine.

What doesn’t: The film keeps lurching between soap-opera romance and a serious look at life as a worker abroad, and the Filipino community in Calgary stays thinly drawn.

Who it’s for: Fans of Hello, Love, Goodbye who have been waiting five years to find out whether Joy and Ethan get another shot.