Made In Heaven

Made In Heaven is the latest installment in nollywood’s series of ‘I see what you were going for but it didn’t quite work out for you’ movies.

The story follows Richard (Blossom Chukwujekwu), a nerdy and awkward romantic who is consistently unlucky in love. One evening, after learning that his girlfriend of five and a half months had been cheating on him for the majority of their relationship (quite unabashedly actually), he also manages to trap himself in a different dangerous situation. He stumbles upon a kidnapping and while trying to perform hero-like stunts, he looses his life. And that’s how he finds himself in a shifty version of Heaven.

In this Heaven, he meets Angela (Uche Nwaefuna) who he is convinced is the true love of his life and when his guardian angel (Nancy Isime) tries to block him, he escapes from Heaven – because apparently it’s really easy to escape the afterlife. When his angel tries to take him back, he easily convinces her that he can’t because he has finally met the love of his life (you know… because this is the purpose of your life). He pleads to be allowed to stay and because it’s a plea made in the undeniable name of “true love” (please make sure you are not missing any of the sarcasm), it is granted. But of course there’s a catch. If he does not make her fall in love with him (as evidenced by Angela’s agreement to be his girlfriend), he will die and be banished to hell.

To be fair, for nollywood, Made In Heaven is a relatively different premise on paper. However, the execution is very true to form for our industry unfortunately. There are inconsistencies in graphics and world building but the most glaring inconsistency is in the story telling. As stated earlier in this review, there were too many situations where the intended effect is obvious however it’s not achieved. For instance, the manner in which the backstory of the kidnap and Richard’s role in that is intertwined is very tackily done. Richard, himself, as a character is barely built up enough. There are many opportunities lost in the depiction of Richard and Angela’s romance. And the fast paced/tense scenes mostly just fell flat on their face 90% of the time. One of the best parts of this movie is just watching Nancy’s character nonchalantly eating in the background as Richard panics.

There are various aspects of this movie that just came up short. This was one of those where almost every department had an opportunity to embarrass themselves. The performances in the film are barely decent as it comes off as though most of the supporting acts here consider the whole thing a joke that the audience isn’t quite in on. Blossom’s rendition of Richard is side-eye interesting at best. It’s not that it’s inconsistent or that the performance is the weakest. Maybe it’s more to do with the writing, but the persona of the character is a kind of ridiculous that doesn’t strike a single chord within the audience. Nancy Isime as our angel is most impressive while she is eating.

When the film ends, you are glad its over but then you are surprised for expecting anything different. Especially after seeing that wanna-be “living in bondage” poster.