By Isabella Akinseye

…Movie Review

There is no stopping Nollywood’s First Lady, Omoni Oboli! Despite her ongoing legal tussle with Canadian based Nigerian screenwriter, Jude Idada which stopped her from screening her latest work, ‘Okafor’s Law’ during the official Nigerian premiere, the movie went on to open at the box office as scheduled on  March 31.

By now, if you’re living in Nigeria, you would have an idea of what Okafor’s Law is. If you don’t, you can google it. In a nutshell, if a man has been intimate with a woman before, he can always go back for more even after both have moved on. As Gabriel Afolayan’s character, Chuks the Baptist puts it, “Once de be, always de be.”

A scene from the movie

Oboli’s movie follows the story of how Chuks Okafor aka Terminator (Blossom Chuks Chukwujekwu) proves the existence of Okafor’s Law to his friends Chuks the Baptist (Gabriel Afolayan) and Chuks the Fox (Ken Erics) with three of his former flames within three weeks. The stakes are high; a bet with shares of a company they jointly own up for grabs.

The Hits

1. Comedy. You will definitely have a good laugh. Either because you are laughing with the characters or at them. If you watch this at the cinema, expect to hear a running commentary from the audience. My stand out moment was when Toyin Abraham went all out in Yoruba against Chuks the Terminator on the street.
2. Acting. Richard Mofe Damijo is always a class act and pulls off his role as a jealous and over-protective husband very well. Omoni Oboli, Tina Mba, Ufuoma McDermott, Gabriel Afolayan and Blossom Chuks Chukwujekwu also gave a good account of their characters.
3. Star power. We all like a movie that packs our favourite stars and ‘Okafor’s Law’ did not let us down. The movie featured the likes of Ufuoma McDermott, Halima Abubakar and Kemi Lala Akindoju, to mention a few.

The Misses

1. Sound. This left a lot to be desired as the background music was not well balanced with the dialogue.
2. Product placement. Different brands were thrown right in our faces throughout the film. Less in this case would have been more.
3. Script. It was way too heavy on the dialogue and some of the sub-plots could easily have been developed into full length features.
4. Casting. Most notably, Toyin Abraham whose mechanical delivery of her lines as an advertising guru stood in stark contrast with her more comedic performance as a pained girlfriend in her verbal exchange with Chuks the Terminator.
5. Directing. Unfortunately, this is where the buck stops. After three sittings in the director’s chair, a lot more was expected from Nollywood’s First Lady. The pace was slow, not enough action and too much talking.