Dance To My Beat

Can you watch a 90 minute movie about Aso-Ebi? That is a question I can bet you never thought you would need to answer. If the answer is yes, then soldier on, but if the answer is no, do not go within a hundred miles of this film.

The confusingly titled, Dance to my Beat, which as an act of defiance I will henceforth refer to as Aso-Ebi movie centers around the painfully familiar Olamide (Mary Lazarus) who determined to get married to the person she loves (Joseph Benjamin), devised a plan to help meet with the financial needs of the wedding. The plan? To sell her wedding Aso-Ebis at exorbitant prices, a move that was so idiotic and yet so successful, because you know, weddings are an absurdly serious and expensive business in Nigeria.

The movie clearly aims and partly succeeds as a safe light-hearted wedding comedy that will make you laugh with Olamide as that superficial girl we all know but fails to truly explore the consequences of the common Nigerian trend of living a lifestyle you can’t afford. Despite the absurd premise, the performance of the cast especially Comedian Ushbebe and Toyin Abraham will earn some laughs and although Joseph Benjamin as Raymond is less convincing, I suspect it is because of the frankly unbelievable moves the screenplay had him making just to satisfy his demanding wife.

Although the movie predictably lands its comedic punches, it may feel like an Instagram skit that went on for too long. But that is only for the moviegoer who doesn’t want to see a movie about Aso-Ebi. Turns out I am one of them. The moral lesson of this movie? Cut your cloth according to your size? I was just left with the desire to never hear the word Aso-Ebi again.