New Money

In New Money, a struggling young designer finds out that the father she once believed to be dead for years, had only recently died and had left her controlling shares of his multi-billion Naira company. Along with the shares comes the responsibility of being the CEO, the threat of an attack from other “CEO aspirants”, as well as the potential of loosing a once in a lifetime chance to become a renowned fashion designer.

The enduring feeling through this movie is the overwhelming “Disney-like” nature of the entire thing. It is very Cinderella an idea – the idea of going from nothing to everything – just without the prince. However, true to the Disney-like nature of the story, by the end a prince does show up to add to the perfect picture.

Having said that, there are many firsts and greats in this movie that must be acknowledged for what they are. The movie does a splendid job of pulling you in and enticing you – what with initial scenes featuring music from Falz juxtaposed against the actual Falz on screen, and the beautiful cast members from Jemima to Dakore, and Daniel to Blossom. There’s not much room for your attention to wonder here, and its more than just eye service. The actors involved in this movie bring more than just their name to the show. From Dakore whose presence alone is a performance, to Kate Henshaw who seizes every scene she’s present in. Then there’s Blossom Chukwujekwu who reminds us in every scene exactly why he has earned his accolades – what with his intense control and presence; and also Daniel Etim Effiong who proves that he is more than just “Folarin” (from Gidi Up) and can do the lover boy role justice as well here. And let’s not forget Wale Ojo who gives both Mama G and Chiwetalu Agu a run for their money here as he redefines what a nollywood villain should look like.

There’s a bounty of talent here, but unfortunately all together they further expose our lead protagonist as pale. In a movie on her own, Jemima has been good. However, here alongside such heavyweights, it’s difficult to not notice the flaws. It’s difficult to not notice the monotony in her performance alongside the forced moments. She doesn’t shine as much as she had the potential to do, the film exposes that as far as growth is concerned – there is still much room for hers. Despite all these though, the movie chugs right on along and so does her character.

It’s an easy-to-enjoy disney-like feature that could have become a whole lot more if it didn’t instead choose to succumb to a few wiles here and there. For instance, there’s an overpopulation of popular songs in this film that is hard to ignore. At a point, it almost felt like there was a quota of pop songs that needed to be met before the movie ended, and whether or not said song was appropriate for the scene it would be added on. It is nothing in comparison to that of “The Wedding Party 2“ but it’s hard to shake the feeling that certain critical scenes would not have been more poignant would less heavy-handed/more subtle music playing in the background.

Another thing that could potentially have made the movie greater would have been an increased focus on building the story. For instance, the character of the villain is left a bit suspect even at the end. There’s no telling if Mr. Chuka is the actual villain or if it’s only son. A little bit more fleshing out in this aspect could have done wonders for the story. Then there’s the romance that was thrown in in the final moments. Everyone and their grandma knew it was coming just from the experience of watching movies (disney movies especially), but a little more build up to the sudden and unheralded kiss would have been nice – even just a quick glance before that to show a wink of interest would have helped.

Disney-like or not disney-like, however, New Money, is a fun watch

Click HERE to watch the full movie online