The Real Deal

From the American movies, “Heartbreakers” to “Confidence” to “Duplicity” and even the more recent Will Smith starrer “Focus”, there is an undeniable appeal about con movies and this one is no exception.

The movie starts with the introduction of the con artists played by Ini Edo and Bolanle Ninalowo. These two have just finished their last cons and overhear a couple speaking about some wealthy siblings whose parents have just passed. These wealthy siblings, KK and Nina played by Michael Godson and Lilian Esoro, meet and fall for the con artists but something changes this time when the con artists fall for them as well.

It is a surprisingly pleasant story because the storyline was handled well. As the story progresses, the viewers are as enticed as the characters in the story until the end of the movie happens. The end of the movie seemed like someone realized that they were running out of time or film and decided to round it up already. The final scene was very unsatisfactory and not because it did not end happily ever after but simply because it did not conclude the matter. There was a resolution to the con but there was no resolution to the emotions of the characters.

The performance in this movie from the leads were really strong especially from Ini and Michael. They held their own and brought immense conviction to their characters. Lillian also held her own, however, her character in itself was not innately a character that permitted any show of depth or variance. Bolanle Ninalowo was strong at times and weak some other times, however, he was strong most of the time especially for a new actor. Asides from the leads, many of the supporting were generally weak performers.

The single biggest problem with this movie (apart from the anticlimactic ending) was the audio. It constantly checked in and out like a 419er being chased by the EFCC. The entire movie needed to have been subtitled because there were too many moments where the audio was indiscernible.