May Minamahal (film)

May Minamahal tells the story of a romance between Carlitos Tagle, the only son of an all-female family, and Monica Fernandez, the only daughter of an all-male family as they faced many challenges during their relationships like the rift between Carlitos and his family for a girl, an argument regarding disapproval of Monica's influence over Carlitos by his family, and the responsibilities and obligations of Carlitos from both home and work where he has no allotted time for himself. The film highlights the romantic relationship faced with numerous problems to solve.

The film begins with the whole Tagle family preparing for a family picnic in Tagaytay but some moments later, a tragedy ensues when the family patriarch Ronald suffers a heart attack and dies. After the funeral, they were condoled by their friends and family relatives for the death of Ronald, and Carlitos, the only son of the family, is now the patriarch of the family as told by their aunt Gloria when she comforted her sister Becky from the loss of her husband. Days after the funeral, Carlitos was joined by his workmates to eat lunch at the office's cafeteria and started meeting with the cafeteria's part-time worker Monica, who was initially offended by Carlitos' staring at her and teased him, marking the beginning of a friendship. Back at home, Carlitos and his sisters Trina, Mandy, and Pinky are gathered together to discuss their finances and assets including the vehicles. Since Trina usually drives the family car due to her busy commitments at the advertising agency, the family decided to sell their family van despite the complaints from Mandy. Soon after, Carlitos began exchanging a short conversation with Monica, who was actually a college student and her father agreed to work with her aunt. Later, Carlitos became pressured by the problems involving the van being sold at a deficit price and his verbal altercation with his younger sister Mandy for going home late from her boyfriend, leading to his mother Becky resolving the issues.

At the supermarket, while Carlitos is buying groceries, Monica shows up since she doesn't have classes on Monday, prompting Carlitos to invite her for a merienda after that. Monica agrees to join. Later at the fast-food restaurant, they eat and exchange stories together, particularly about topics that they have in common like sports and movies. At night, Carlitos returns home from Monica's car and promises to call her later on the telephone. As Monica returns home, she is scolded by her older brother Bombit due to her use of his car and she handles the cooking for dinner instead. A few moments later, Carlitos and Monica began exchanging stories on the telephone. The former was witnessed by his sisters while the latter was distracted by the loud rock music from Bombit, as warned by her other older brother Jun. On the following sunny day, the whole Tagle family is bonded together. Carlitos promised his mother that he would take care of all the obligations that their family had.

To see Monica, Carlitos begins paying a visit to her household and he meets her family consisting of her father Cenon, older brothers Bombit and Jun, and cousin Didoy. He, along with Monica's whole family, began bonding together while eating lunch. On the night of their first date, Carlitos and Monica are at the fancy restaurant but they go to the delicious carinderia that serves delicious mami noodles instead as insisted by the latter. After a few days, his mother and three sisters began noticing Carlitos' new lifestyle including the use of cologne, suspecting that he has a girlfriend. At the family reunion of their relatives returning from overseas, Carlitos introduces Monica to his family. A few meetings later, Monica seriously asked Carlitos if he wanted to be her boyfriend and he agreed, and the two became a couple.

As days pass, the relations between Carlitos and his family go sour when he begins focusing on Monica and office work rather than on the obligations that their family needs to pay as well as time for bonding. While Carlitos and Monica spent their time in San Pablo, Becky was sent to the hospital but he almost made an argument with his sister Mandy about his time with his girlfriend. After a number of missed calls, Monica becomes disappointed and when Carlitos shows up, the two begin a heated argument between each other.

In the end, Carlitos and Monica were finally married with their respective families being present to witness their ceremony.

May Minamahal began its development in early 1993 when Star Cinema, the film's producer and distributor, began its existence as a joint venture between ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation and Regal Films on May 8, 1993.[4][lower-alpha 1]

In 2007, May Minamahal was remade into a TV series by ABS-CBN and it is part of Sineserye Presents. The lead characters were Anne Curtis and Oyo Boy Sotto.

• May Minamahal at IMDb