The film stars Cherry Pie Picache, Traci Ann Wolfe, Christopher de Leon, Dina Bonnevie, Ricky Davao, Paolo Montalban, Randy Becker, and Sandy Andolong.

Written by Vincent Nebrida, it tells the story of five Filipino-American friends living in New York City dealing with love, sex, friendship, careers, and cultural identity.

Mike (Christopher De Leon) is a former political journalist who is now enjoying the fruits of a lucrative career as a newspaper editor, but he wonders if he left his principles behind along the way; he's also feeling unfulfilled in his marriage to Gigi (Susan Valdez-LeGoff).

And Marissa (Dina Bonnevie) is on the surface a well-to-do social butterfly; however, deep inside she's woefully insecure, and is afraid to confront her boyfriend Sam (Randy Becker) about his constant infidelity.

Two months later Vincent finished a screenplay called "Magic Adobo" but only received attention from movie executives in April 1999, after four years since its conception.

The entire movie was filmed in chilly October 2000 on location in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island, including a summertime pool party scene which required the actors, who were shivering between takes, to wear skimpy bathing suits outdoors.

The way it treats the totally non-ethnic aspects of life--love, loneliness, dying, friendship--is what makes this Filipino film so attractive and also so American."

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times stated that, "American Adobo is an intimate, good-humored comedy with lots of heart.