My Rich Boyfriend

After spending a solid amount of time trying to decide whether or not “my rich boyfriend” is an Igbo movie or just a home video, the rest of my thoughts during the movie were occupied on one thing (or should I say person)… IK Ogbonna. There’s a quote by Kevin Durant used nowadays to describe everything, so allow me to borrow that quote to describe this situation. Whoever had the genius idea to take IK away from those stereotypical playboy/Hausa-man-kaftan-wearing roles that he is always in, “you da real mvp”.

My Rich Boyfriend is the stuff that many past comedies have been made of. A village girl played by the dynamic Bayray McNwizu moves to Lagos with one aim – finding a rich boyfriend. On her path to this destination she, fortunately or unfortunately meets and chooses a guy with the same goal as her, both pretending to be what they are not. From this point, the destination of the movie is crystal clear. The movie is not so much about the destination but the journey. It is not about “what happens at the end”, but the things that happen in between.

The movie has a very narrow focus. It has a strict cast and no one else is in the movie except those individuals. In some movies this might turn out boring, in this movie it worked a little. At this point we will admit our disclaimer, there is more than enough room for improvement in the movie. It seemed very low budget, very hurriedly put together, but even through the budget and the time the prospect of the movie is unquestionable.

It’s straight to the point and pleasant at every step. Every now and then you might notice the struggle of the actors, Ik here and Alexx there, but for the most part the impact is felt.

Speaking of the actors, My Rich Boyfriend has a rather solid actor base. The protagonist, played by Bayray McNwizu is a very underappreciated diamond in the rough. And if this is her ‘rough’, then just imagine what her polished must be like. Bayray is effortless. Bayray is equisite. Her performance is as though she has been acting for decades but you might remember watching her audition for AMBO (Amstel Malta Box Office).

Kalu Ikeagwu is simply delightful and he returned to that igbo flavor in this movie and did not miss a beat. Ruth Kadiri was pleasant to watch as she struggled with her emotions but I just want to get to the true surprises in this movie: Alexx Ekubo and IK Ogbonna. I have a non-material list in my head of actors to avoid and these two definitely top that list, at least they used to. Not that they have channeled Jamie Foxx in Django in this movie, but because this is the first time I’ve personally ever seen them actually performing. Alexx as the funny igbo boy was spot on but IK takes the cake in this movie. I had to clean my eyes a couple times to first get past the fact that he was playing a reserved character and then to realize that he was actually presenting it fairly well. IK did fairly well with the scenes that were simply going through the motions, however there is much room for improvement with the actual emotional scenes.

Having said that, the movie was obviously not without its faults like the constantly fluctuating audio quality, the incomplete subtitles here and there and the scene where it’s supposed to be midnight but Alex’s phone says 4:03pm. Regardless, ‘my rich boyfriend’ is a light-hearted comedy that serves its purpose.