Meet, Greet & Bye is about Baby Facunda (DRPH 2’s Maricel Soriano), whose cancer relapse affects her three children. Her adult sons have different tactics in trying to get her back to painful chemo. Youngest Leo (Juan Karlos Labajo), funny, musical, and thicc, promises to marry his baby’s mother if she undergoes the cancer treatment.

Brad (Joshua Garcia), eerily looking like my poor and favourite uncle, looks for ‘medicine’ that has less side effects and is cheaper. Tupe (Piolo Pascual), hiding his debts because of an LA restaurant gone bust, capitulates to what she wants and gets her the titular meet and greet tickets for a K-Pop idol. They, including Tupe’s tough daughter Geri (Belle Mariano) try to live their lives despite Baby’s cancer.

Eventually, the family gets in the program by getting those pesky meet and greet tickets. They do things like going to shady resellers or going to the actual lineup, taking days. The cancer brings out old grudges but this is a family drama and we hope everyone makes up.

I haven’t seen a lot from Cathy Garcia-Sampana, who also directed Hello, Love Again. That movie, at one point by the way, made as much money as Anora in North America. I bring up Garcia-Sampana’s filmography because of its campiness, but again, Filipino cinema is campy.

Some of the scenes here exist for those heightened emotions, like a sense of necessary levity. Tupe would never be scammed (a North American would know Ticketmaster, authentication codes etc., but maybe he’s that desperate) but he does so Meet Greet & Bye gets a chase scene in a palengke. But the film isn’t afraid to be serious as well, using a long take during Baby’s relapses.

Meet Greet & Bye has its share of tropes like Geri and Leo leaving Brad and Tupe, the former duo doing this so that Brad and Tupe can reconcile by making small talk. As the film progresses, viewers realize that reconciliation is harder to happen for those two.

Eventually Meet Greet & Bye reveals the root of the animosity between the two older, stubborn brothers. Scenes like this are typical in Filipino films that aren’t for art house, gritty film festivals. Besides, I like actors doing capital A acting, and Joshua Garcia excels at that.

Maybe I’m ragging on conventional Filipino cinema too much, despite Meet’s admittedly exaggerated heights. Pascual and Soriano are equally great, especially the latter during moments that require some stoicity. Both actors, by the way, can do the Filipino circuit of art films, endorsements, soaps, and variety shows, so none of this should surprise diasporic viewers. Despite what Baby’s going through, she can still make great breakfasts, customizing it for each child.

All’s well that ends well in Meet, Greet, & Bye, ending in a beach party for everyone. That may have been spoilers, but the film still has some surprises up its sleeve. Again, films like this exist for its actors, who are commendable in an otherwise busy movie.

Meet, Greet, & Bye is available to watch in select Canadian theatres.