More Than Friends

As this was a Rukky Sanda movie, some things were a given. The movie was very predictable. It was entirely unoriginal – in fact it was a copy of the American movie “When Harry Met Sally”, and very shamelessly so. The dialogues were copied, the storyline was copied and even scene-for-scene was a copy… but I still liked the movie.

More than Friends tells the story of two people who meet incidentally, are irritated by each other and then bump into each other again many more times in the years to come until they finally cement a friendship. No points for originality here, not in concept, not in storyline because asides from following the predictable love story storyline it is also a rip of a movie that nearly every Tom, Dick and Harry has seen.

So why was it still endearing? For me, it probably had to do with the fact that I’m a die hard romantic. In retrospect, I am not that vexated by the fact that they stole a movie from head to toe and very shamelessly too. I’m really not. This is because I have been watching Frank Rajah do the same thing for many years now. Quite frankly I’ve seen so many bollywood versions of hollywood movies, ghallywood versions of bollywood movies and nollywood versions of hollywood movie that at this point we’re all just a big happy cyclical unoriginal family in my head. My aggravation is with the performances.

This movie can be excused on many things but not on acting. I don’t think it has ever been clear to me as it is now that Rukky Sanda really can’t act to save her life. Previously I was looking at her from afar, but it’s true what they say – when it happens in your terrain everything is so much clearer. And clear it was that Rukky can’t act a wink. When it comes to sassing and parading – 1st class. But when it comes to real emotions and connections it just all falls off. In fact, Rukky’s performance in this movie was making John Dumelo – whom I usually cannot stand – look like the African DiCaprio. But in all honesty, even though Dumelo had his weak moments he was really the glue that held this movie together – him and his hilarious anecdotes.

There was a lot of background noise distracting in some scenes and the continuity could use some work but yet the movie was able to hold my attention the entire time regardless of Rukky’s terrible acting.