A woman hires a male escort to be her ‘boyfriend’ at her cousin’s engagement party. | Full Service

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Full Service is used with permission from Soma Helmi. Learn more at https://somahelmi.com.

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Sylvie is set to attend her cousin’s engagement party. Wanting to avoid the intrusive questions about her personal life from her aunties, she decides to hire an escort for the night, to pose as her boyfriend.

When Wes shows up at her hotel room, he’s handsome, kind, funny and smart — and Sylvie is pleasantly surprised by her attraction to him. She’s even more delighted when she and Wes go to the engagement party, and Wes impresses everyone. She begins to have a real spark with Wes, but before anything can happen, she realizes her friend Carol already knows who Wes is — and knows him well.

Directed and written by Soma Helmi, this sharp, engaging romantic comedy is both a knowing, funny comment on the pressures on that modern single women face in a traditional society, as well as a comedy of manners that plays with the perceptions and fluidity of social class and status.

Like many rom-coms, it has affluent, polished visuals that speak of aspiration and escapism — viewers can vicariously experience a well-appointed, chic hotel room and event as she generates heat and chemistry with a hunky companion. The lighting is gleaming, and even the camerawork is poised and elegant. But its smart, witty writing tackles the pressure that L.A.-based Sylvie feels when facing a cabal of aunties who will needle her about not being married or having a boyfriend. Sylvie takes matters into her own hands by hiring an escort, flexing her empowered status as a modern, independent woman.

The dialogue has fun with Sylvia’s obvious surprise that her hired escort is such a catch, playing around with perceptions and stereotypes of the profession and the taboo against talking about it openly. The result is an extended verbal dance between Sylvie and Wes, both as she tries to get to know Wes and talk about their situation, without stating the obvious.

Actors Michele Selene Ang and Yoshi Sudarso as Sylvie and Wes, respectively, have a delightful back-and-forth that hints at the genuine chemistry and attraction they have for each other, despite the artificiality of their situation. But when her friend Carol and Wes greet one another with familiarity, Sylvie is mortified that her secret is out, until she asks Carol about her relationship with Wes and realizes with a hilarious shock that Carol is cool with it — and encourages Sylvie to move ahead.

“Full Service” ends with a final zinger, one that fully exploits our inability to talk honestly about money, class, sex and status to its logical end. It also leaves the story and characters on a bit of a cliffhanger, thanks to the lead actors’ chemistry and our desire to root for this romance, against all odds. We wonder where Sylvia and Wes go after this, proving romance’s old-fashioned appeal, no matter how tumultuous roles, power and society changes.

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A woman hires a male escort to be her ‘boyfriend’ at her cousin’s engagement party. | Full Service

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