Ebube
aul Sambo, Mercy Johnson, Angel Obeta, Juliet Mgborukwe, Prince Onuoha, Duke Onuoha, Princess Dimunah
A village girl goes to work for a career woman in the city, tending to the home and children. Both parties are initially delighted with each other; however the joy comes to an abrupt halt when her madam discovers some newly acquired gifts that her uncle had intended on presenting to her.
Ebube part 1 and part 2
Ikechukwu Onyeka
Sunday Ojiego
Tai Emeka Obasi
2012
Mercy Johnson makes every movie better
Unoriginal
-Story: [2 out of 5] In as much as I liked the plot, I thought there were a couple things that didn’t make sense and a couple sequences that were too corny and unrealistic. For instance, I for one thought that the transformation of Mercy’s character from sisterly madam to the evil step-mother was very unwarranted. The trigger for the switch was too fickle. The fact that your husband bought her underwear once might be reason to raise an eyelid or query him, but to turn into a witch for months to come is too much abeg.
-Originality: [1 out of 5] It’s definitely something we’ve seen before with a little bit of a new angle. For some reason, this movie reminded me of the 2003 movie, “Mother’s Help” starring Zack Orji, Eucharia Anunobi and Lilian Bach.
-Predictability: [1 out of 5] To a certain extent, the movie goes as one would expect and to a certain extent, it doesn’t. Regardless, it has a stereotyped ending.
-Directing/Editing: [2 out of 5] Except for a couple overly prolonged scenes and some bad continuity in a couple scenes, the directing in this movie was ok.
-Acting quality: [2 out of 5] I’m still not used to seeing pregnant Mercy Johnson in movies, actually there are a couple movies that I’ve outright refused to watch because Mercy Johnson is pregnant in them. I don’t know how her pregnancy is affecting my watching o, yet I can’t bring myself to watch it. Simply because I know that she’s pregnant, whenever her character falls on screen I feel like she is falling too and someone should save the pregnant lady. Regardless, I must say that once I got past the fact that she was pregnant, Mercy Johnson did as Mercy Johnson does and definitely delivered.
I am a bit on the fence about Paul Sambo’s acting. I don’t think he is a bad actor, far from it. However, he doesn’t deliver from scene to scene. What do I mean? In most scenes, he is on point and I forget that he is a relatively new actor but 2/5ths of the time, he lacks that conviction. He falls out of the character and is just not convincing me.
The actress who plays Ebube did a fairly good job. She was quite impressive for a newcomer, however, she did seem to get caught up in the corniness of some scenes. In most scenes, her acting seemed to lack fluidity in some scenes but asides from that she did an impressive job.
I must mention the gateman in this movie. This is probably the least amusing hausa gateman I have ever seen in a Nollywood movie. Gatemen in movies, especially Nollywood movies, are almost always sources of comical relief. And I can see the gateman in this movie attempting to get his funny bone on but he’s just not that amusing. Nothing from the yo-wa to the ‘whatever the hell he was calling Ebube’ was amusing.
The extras, especially the character who played Mercy’s friend, need more work.
-Setting: [3 out of 5] Ok for the most part. Especially liked the set of the family house.
-Costume/Make-Up: [3 out of 5] I think one of the most impressive things about this movie (if not the single most impressive thing) was that Mercy Johnson’s baby bump did not once surface on the screen. I don’t know if that is in part due to how Mercy was walking, but I attribute it mainly to costumes. A job definitely well done. (…and I won’t lie, the fact that I didn’t once see the baby bump definitely made it that much easier to watch)
-Props and Graphics: [2 out of 5] We need to work on our ghost effects in Nollywood though
-Video Quality: [3 out of 5] Well done
-Audio Quality [3 out of 5] Changing timbres occasionally
-Soundtrack: [4 out of 5] Even before the credit for music was listed, I knew it was an Austine Erowele soundtrack. For most films it seems as though the movie is too good for the soundtrack, but for a minute there, for this movie, I felt the soundtrack was too good for the movie.
-Musical Score: [2 out of 5] Was on point although once in a while some scenes had songs that were inappropriate for the scene
Misplaced Desires
Ifunanya
nice review, i agree about the pregnant Mercy part loool, but all the same i still like to watch her in movies.
Yeah, the kids in this movie weren’t that bad (thankfully). Highly doubt I’d watch this movie again.
Yes o, Paul was in Ladies Gang. He was Funke Akindele’s abusive boyfriend.
To me this was an okay movie..I wont watch it a second time tho..The house help (Ebube) she is a good actress..Yea the hubby buying the househelp underwear was off but then I get that him giving it to his wife was a way to pass the message across..Still, discuss before going to such extent
I like Paul Sambo so far with the movies I have seen, never knew he was in ladies gang..
Mercy J a great actress any time..
The kids were good..I didnt get bored watching them
Good point, in the 21st century no matter how much a parent tries to control what their kids are exposed to, they still will be.
Lol @ Gogo… haven’t heard that in a while 🙂
@NollywoodREinvented:disqus : The kids will be influenced by just about everything and everyone in their environment: classmates, friends, TV, etc. Unless a woman wants to be a full-time housewife, I think she’ll have to find ways to balance work and family, even if that means hiring a househelp. There’s no easy solution to this.
Buying underwear for someone who is not The Madam? No way! Under NO circumstances is that allowed. What happened to buying tom-tom and gogo as gifts? Na wa!
In short, yeye man!
I don’t know o… I must concede that the husband himself must be some sort of a dunce. Not only did he buy the maid underwear but then he went ahead to give it to his wife to give to her…
I would love to see her pregnant in movies. There are a thousand and one items in the market, why go for undies? It is the madam’s place to get undies for her and not the other way round.