Baby Shower

The title and the poster almost set it up to be a joke, to not be taken serious, to be simply “light-weight stuff” but we thank God for the director… at least in the opening scene. As the movie begins he pulls you along the house, our set and home for the next 100 minutes in this movie. The movie thrives because it creates excitement. Excitement not just in the storyline and the slaps donated here and there, not just in the random conniving characters, not just in the plot twists or in the ooh and aah moments, but also in the little things like the vibrant colors and the astonishing sets and maybe… maybe just the way the director follows a character as she introduces us into the movie.

Baby Shower is a movie about good intentions gone bad…but for any smart African, you know a house full of family members that haven’t seen each other in a while will almost always result in a potful of drama. And true to that prediction, it does. An expecting mother hosts her family on the occasion of her baby shower. The invite says “family and close friends only”, the fact that I know what the invite says already tells you that that was not the case… hence the drama.

There is the drama from a beloved aunt and uncle, played by Desmond Elliot (who knew Desmond was already old enough to be playing Mary’s uncle?…cheers to the casting director) who are having marriage troubles after 25 years of marriage. The husband finds the wife a bore and has stepped out from the marriage… or like I like to call it, “the old man is a midlife crisis”. He brings in a young “stunning” mistress to tension his wife and stir the pot. I say stunning in apostrophe because, no offense to the young lady who plays Imabong, but she looks like a regular human being and hardly worth all that oggling. Then there is aunty Americana who is mad at everyone for everything and whose favorite past time seems to be devouring sweets. Then there is an issue with a younger sister in love with an older man who has dated another sister… but I digress.

As far as performances go, Mary Remmy has perfected the art of carrying a movie with effortless ease. It makes you wonder if we would ever have gotten a chance to see this post Blackberry Babes version of her if she’d never become Mrs. iRoko TV (also makes you wonder how much other talent we are missing out on due to lack of opportunity). Desmond Elliott manages to convince us, pretty easily actually, that he’s old enough to play Mary’s uncle and has us puzzled at ourselves that we ever even wondered it in the first place. Then there is the lady who plays Desmond’s character’s wife… I’d like to find out who you are so I can become your fan.

Baby Shower is entertaining and spectacular fun to watch and fun would be the operative word. This movie is not going to change your life but it’s a party with a story (a bit different from the other party movie that we’ve seen- TWP & Birthday Bash).