Movie

The Debut

One night can change a lifetime.

2000★ 6.0 · 81h 28mDrama

Overview

Filipino-American high school student Ben (Dante Basco) works in a comic book shop to earn money to pay his way into Cal Arts. His father, a postman, is determined that his son--who has won a pre-med scholarship to UCLA--will become a doctor. The eighteenth birthday party of Ben's sister, Rose, sets off a comedic and touching series of events and family struggles that will in turn determine young Ben's future. This fresh independent production from Gene Cajayon presents a lighthearted and warm coming-of-age tale filtered through the eyes of an American subculture rarely seen on film.

Trailer

Trailer · The Debut Trailer

Watch on YouTube ↗

Images

Backdrops & posters from TMDB

6 images

Cast

Dante Basco
as Ben Mercado

Dionysio Basco
as Rommel

Eddie Garcia
as Lolo Carlos

Gina Alajar
as Gina Mercado

Derek Basco
as Edwin Mercado

Darion Basco
as Augusto

Joy Bisco
as Annabelle Manalo

Tirso Cruz III
as Roland Mercado

Mindy Spence
as Jennifer

Bernadette Balagtas
as Rose Mercado

Jayson Schaal
as Doug

Ernie Zarate
as Tito Lenny

Information

Community

6.0/ 10

8 TMDB votes · limited sample

6.0

Your rating

Saved in this browser · counts toward collection progress

Release date: 2000-05-18

Budget: $1,000,000

Runtime: 1h 28m

Genres

Drama

Where to watch

Availability via TMDB / JustWatch

Country

Logos show where this title is listed (stream, rent, or buy). TMDB does not provide direct links into Netflix or other apps — use the button below to open TMDB’s watch page (JustWatch data) for this country.

Open watch options on TMDB

StreamIncluded with subscription