Fifty

We’ve just about beaten to death the reason not to have expectations for movies, because with great expectations come great disappointments. Now there’s another end to it, we are beginning to think it might be a good idea for filmmakers to generally stop overhyping their movies because it just might be setting the film up for failure.

Fifty follows the lives of four women in their fifties and their life struggles. Tola, masterfully played by Dakore Egbuson, can be said to be the center of all these women (who are not necessarily ‘sex and the city’ type friends). She is rich and fabulous (especially if the title of her reality TV show is anything to go by – Rich and Fabulous Tola) but her household is anything but fabulous.

We find out soon enough that Tola’s husband, Kunle played by the ageless Wale Ojo is cheating on her with another woman. This other woman is Omoni Oboli’s character who is yet another successful and accomplished lady but this time without a husband or children.

These women are seemingly tied together by Ireti Doyle’s character who is a renowned gynecologist whose main problem seems to be her penchant for younger men. The problem is so much so that it has led to a falling out between herself and her daughter.

And on the edge somewhere is Nse Ikpe-Etim’s character, Kate. A fifty year old party planner who spends all her time in church, much to the disdain of her jobless self employed husband.

From that alone it sounds like there’s a lot going on in this movie but in reality there really isn’t anything going on. The movie lasts approximately 100 minutes and the first 80 minutes read more like a documentary or reality show on the rich and fabulous lives of these women, set almost exclusively in the “upper east side” (if this were to be gossip girl). If you’ve watched earlier Yvonne Nelson movies then you know what a fashion parade of a movie is, this is just a new kind of a fashion parade.

The first facade of a storyline peeks through in the 80 minute mark when Tola confronts her parents. It’s the first time when we see a real story developing but even then it almost seems like a convenient fall back plan because it is a storyline we’ve seen and heard time and time again at this point. It is not delved into enough that we actually feel like the writer is invested in that angle. Instead, it seems like it was thrown in there to get some tears or awws.

Besides the actual lack of a tangible and real storyline, Fifty was probably the ultimate fashion show movie of 2015. It’s fun to see these fabulous lives and potential ‘fabulosity’ (for lack of a better word) that could potentially be waiting for us young’uns when we turn 50, or that could have been possible for others. The flow does not skip a beat and the production is breathtaking.

The colors, the crew, the cast, the sets, the sheer magnificence is why you should see fifty. But if you leave feeling like you don’t quite remember what the movie was about, don’t blame yourself it’s because it really wasn’t about much.