Big Love

Big Love

This romcom sees a single mother as she tries to overcome her fears of accommodating new love into her life. The leads were university acquaintances reconnecting and falling in love at a graduate training camp.

A lot of expectations were set up for Big Love as it reunited its leads (Bimbo Ademoye and Timini Egbuson) after the success of Breaded Life, seeing how this was also directed by Biodun Stephen (the director of Breaded Life), the bar was raised even higher. But with all of these going for Big Love, it doesn't deliver up to expectations, the sweet charm that Breaded Life had is missing here. Much of this can be attributed to the dynamic between the leads, the loving is mostly one-sided, and even when reciprocation is attempted it feels contrived.

The chemistry between the leads is there, but nothing special is birthed. The acting is good but not memorable, but the duo of Jaiye Kuti and Shaffy Bello are a delight.

Big Love could have been a worthy predecessor but the screenplay falls short.

4-4.5/10.

The Excellence and Flaws of Tradition told in a well known story of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, then the other shoe drops: family drama. Families marry each other. However, this one highlights how the flaws in tradition, cause cognitive dissonance, when it frowns on people we love.

In comparison to most Nigerian scripts, this was a well written familiar story, and the star-studded cast delivered on some levels. Bimbola Ademoye's raw acting talent shines through as usual. Shaffy Bello remains an entertaining watch. Veteran Actor Kalu Ikeagwu has always pulled off the brooding role, but he shows enviable acting chops as the Chief, Leader, and Ruler of the home while being multi-dimensional. He has a certain welcoming warmth, tear-jerking humility, and understanding many children yearn for in a father. The dynamic in his marriage is thought-provoking though. It makes one really think about the strong and unquestionably dominant silent personality type. Our three year old superstar actor- Jedida Joe James (Jayden), was nothing short of brilliant. Timini Egbuson still has miles to go with his acting, but he was believable in a few scenes.

Yes, some chaotic fight scenes and the climax scene could be fine tuned somewhat. But they did the job. It is still a predictable watch, but very enjoyable. The only unrealistic part (for Nigerians) is how things got sorted out. We do not usually settle things that way, but hey- it is still a movie inspired by the Nigerian reality.

So 7 stars for not going over the top unnecessarily, allowing for character depth and growth, and just giving us a feel good movie. A solid watch for anyone who wants to merge their Nigerian roots with the modern times.

Well done.

The screenplay followed the typical love story route, so there wasn't much excitement there, then it only got authentic towards the end...

DELICIOUS

-The production design was beautiful😍 we have to appreciate the appealing, classy and luxurious costume n set designs that defined the characters and their residences

-Adekanla Desalu takes home the best actor award. His performance was natural and believable. He was composed, you could tell he was the big brother in the room, looking out for Adil

-Ladipo Abiola the DP has improved! No more unnecessary smoke on sets; the images were crisp n clear

-The story only got interesting towards the end. That's when we heard genuine dialogues and important themes on stereotypes and sacrificial love. Plus, characters' emotions became real

BLAND

-The movie was presented in a very cliche way with two people doing puppy love.

The dialogues were cheesy with the scenario moving in a predictable way as we already knew what Adina's issue was and that Adil's family would become a problem

-Bimbo Ademoye gave us "Bimo Ademoye" rather than "Adina". Her gestures n reactions seemed artificial and at times anticipated.

Timini, as always, gave us his usual loverboy look that there wasn't much to look forward to.

-The advertisement obstructed the flow of the movie. It was clearly apparent that Big Love was advertising Sterling Bank and Glitz Allure Fabrics as their logos were in our faces😔