Birthday Bash

Birthday Bash is surprisingly a very funny movie, that will get you cracking really hard, due to the performances of a few outstanding actors. Howbeit, it’s that sort of movie you are watching with your friends and while laughing, you could end up saying things like, “this is a really stupid movie” and yet the laughter will continue. No! You are not laughing at what makes the movie a stupid one, you are laughing because you cannot comprehend that this not-so-well executed movie which you’d rather frown your face seeing is doing the exact opposite to you.

I jumped right at the invitation to see this movie, for two reasons. The first being that Tope Tedela is one of the comic flicks headliners. The second was my curiosity on watching Tope play funny. Tope and ‘action’ in a sentence I can relate with, Tope and ‘drama’ in a sentence it’s very convincing, but Tope and ‘funny’ in a sentence? Fiam! I was soon in the cinema with other invited guests, and didn’t allow anyone or anything distract me from enjoying or not enjoying the movie.

The movie centers on two groups of armed robbers who gate-crashed the birthday party of a Lagos big boy, following in their wake ‘sorrows, tears, blood’ and leaving the viewers in stitches.

What I didn’t enjoy about the movie? Despite the movie being enjoyable, I couldn’t help but notice its very many flaws. The introductory scene looked off, really off, and unnecessary. It showed three female friends, who would be attending the party, talking about it in dialogues that sounded like an improvisation and actions that seemed not properly rehearsed. Ninety percent of the dialogue in the movie sounded improvised. I tried to, but couldn’t see the need for that scene. I thought that maybe it was a set-up, but didn’t see it pay off. The scene that followed, introducing Julius Agwu’s and Saeed Mohammed’s characters should have been used instead. It was cinematic, hilarious and concise.

The audio was poor, totally. I strained my ears to hear Yul Edochie’s dialogue all the time. The audio nearly marred his powerful interpretation. I didn’t enjoy the plenty and uncoordinated drama amongst the extras. I get it, it was placed there to spice up the film, but I think it did the exact opposite. Most of the extras acting didn’t compliment the wonderful performances by Julius, Saeed, Jude and Yul.

What else did I not like about the movie? Hmmm. Yes, I found the plotting flawed but I noticed it came about as a result of  the not-so-seamless flow of the scenes, and that I think is the directorial flaw, and which I think happened because the director choose to act in it and didn’t get a trained eyes to hold forth for him while he was away. This directorial effort by Desmond Elliot is a no-no for me. It looked so unplanned and rushed when compared to his other great works like ‘Desperate Housegirls’ and ‘Apaye’. Bros Dessy, warrapen na?

Also, some actors gave their best but it didn’t look that way because they didn’t fit into the shoes of the characters they played, particularly Morris Sesay (the birthday boy), and Bobby Obodo (close friend with the birthday boy).

What did I like about the movie? I liked Saeed, Julius Agwu, Jude Orhora, and Yul Edochie’s characterization and the quality of their acting. Liked? No, I enjoyed their performances. They were so apt in their interpretation; you’d because of them want to forgive the avoidable mistakes. Also, I enjoyed the moments Saeed turned to his victims and asked, “you dey disunderstand me?” I am laughing so hard now just remembering it. Saeed totally killed it with his delivery. He deserves an award.

I liked the story idea, brilliant. Instead of having a gang of ruthless robbers storm the party, why not make them two, each independent and threatened by the presence of the other.  But that is where it ends.

Did I find Tope funny? I will reiterate what I told him after I had seen the movie: “You weren’t comfortable in the skin of that character (He played Skoda, Yul’s sidekick). You were comfortable holding the gun, but being funny? Na! You focused so much on trying to be funny that you ended up not-funny to me …”