I would like to apologize for my lack of posting, rent had to be paid, if you get what I mean. Yet I had time to watch Netflix under the circumstances. Okay that's out of the way let us start, since watching Crazy Rich Asians (which you could watch on Netflix) I’ve been eager to see if any African movie can do the Asians from Singapore one better, sadly I am waiting, I had hope A Naija Christmas could do Justice, I mean there's no country on this beautiful continent who does grandeur events like Nigeria.
Truth be told, I have watched more Nigerian movies this year than all the years prior combined, all thanks to Netflix Africa. A Naija Christmas is about three brothers who need to get married by Christmas to fulfil their mother's wish. Meanwhile, their mum sets out to plan the most beautiful Christmas celebration for the neighborhood. On paper, it's a good movie. I would also approve of it if I was an executive, yet two hours and ten minute the film feels like an event calendar, it's just long. I had to pause after an hour and fifteen minutes because every scene felt like eternity.
The bad gift.
I watched the movie with my neighbour who came for coffee and decided to watch the series with me. According to him, I am a harsh critic, but he understood my points. The scene where the brothers meet for the first time at the mall was useless. It had no impact, there was no chemistry between the three brothers. Kunle Remi plays Ugo, the oldest of the three. A record producer whose studio got damaged because he had not paid his debtors. My bet is he was supposed to be intimate and have a huge present on screen, yet it did not come across because of poor line delivery.
Efa Iwara plays the nerd middle brother named Obi, he's a marketer and the love of his life who turns out to be his boss, dumps him at the beginning of the movie. For me, Efa was supposed to play Ugo. He would have done the character justice because of his body physics, and he looks older than Kunle, I give it to him. He did the stuttering part of his character very well, but he could not pull the nerdy part. Anyway, I thought he was timid and nerdy, nope.
The younger brother, a gym instructor, the more charismatic of the two is Chicke played by Abayomi Alvin. He acted very well, especially when the trio were in front of the camera, maybe because he had less to say or even do in the film, but whenever it was his turn he did well, even performing in front of a GOAT actress like Mercy Johnson, who plays his love interest.
Weak plot.
In my opinion, the plot is the reason for the movie's low rating, scripted by Kemi Adesoye who I thought did a good job in terms of writing, but the plot was too obvious, there was no room for the audience to guest, everything was laid down in front of us, I should give credits when its due I thought Abayomi Alvin character was going to be a LGBQ, in my mind I was like “no ways, no ways” I was so anxious to see it happen, but I was not disappointed when the film reveal his love interest is Mrs Johnson.
The worst part of the script was having everything negative link to Tony Torpedo, who came across as a gimmick character, He was just over the top. Maybe that's how the script wanted him to be, but I did not feel Lateef Adedimeji was a gangster character.
The good gift.
I felt the Christmas spirit, I truly did. The film leads to a grand party, which did not disappoint. I want to be in Lagos for Christmas. The party was just beautiful, the cinematography of the Christmas party was spectacular. The children receive gifts while the choir sings a Nigerian version of a carol. If I could insert Emoji I would put the watering eye Emoji, That scene stole my heart.
Okay, don’t hate on me, but the women stole the whole show, they ate their male counterparts. The best performance was Ade Laoye who played Kaneng Efa Iwara's best friend, from her first appearance in the mall to the last. She was full of energy, stole each scene from my opinion. My favourite scene of her is the staff after-party, when she cries and tells Efa character that she loves him.
Vera, a lady boss character who will stop at nothing to get a client, played by the beautiful Linda Osifo, did a great job at bringing the importance of her closing the deal for her company, even if that was to hurt Obi's heart, it's nothing personal it's just business.
The message of the film is that family is important, the family legacy should be protected, I did not feel the family love, I did not even care for the house, There was not much scene in the main house for me to worry about who gets the house, or how important the house is for the mum to let the son who marries first get it, and who falls in love and get married in four weeks, I need to know because I want to drink the same water, A Naija Christmas has one scene depicting Christmas, the rest feels like a two-hour January meal, it lacks gravy for the dry meal.
Imdb gave it a 4.7/10. It says a lot about the movie.
But I am sure we will get other Nigerian Christmas movies about weddings. I just hope they spend time on the script and choose the right cast.
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