Sophia

Charles Dickens’ in A Tale of Two Cities wrote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. I suspect that this line might have inspired the movie Sophia which was A Tale of Two Halves and delivered both the best and worst of times. The movie Sophia is described in its synopsis as a story of a hard working lady/world’s worst research assistant who earns just enough to survive until she reunites with her ex and throws morality to the wind. Now the first half and best part of the movie was about that but as it progressed I began to feel a lag and a recurring sense of de javu as the movie meandered towards a disappointing and unsatisfactory climax.

The best parts of the movie Sophia (the terrible research assistant) were undeniably its excellent production quality, exceptional dialogue, delightful characters, great soundtrack and its ensemble cast. The movie stars Efe Irele in the titular role as she continues her journey to Nollywood stardom and Timini Egbuson as the dreamy Jamal who although his performance failed to hit the right notes on occasion clearly has the looks and charisma to be a Nollywood leading man. The biggest thrill for me had to be the Nollywood veteran and great actor Segun Arinze’s performance who plays creepy to perfection and I wish the movie have given him more screen time. After the first hour of the movie, I was convinced that this was the best movie I had seen from Iroko studios in a long time because with the exception of a few scenes, it was easily cinema-level quality and it even had the customary pidgin subtitles to prove it.

The second half of the movie however struggles heavily and fails to justify its lengthy runtime and although it wasn’t littered with more superfluous scenes than usual, I found myself wishing it had just acted like a Kanye West album and summarized. In this half, the movie takes a wild yet predictable tangent and the plot began to disintegrate with some of the comedic scenes becoming a swing and a miss.

However if you are like me and have been considering a career change into “online investment” come for a good movie but stay for the “how to be a yahoo boy 101”