Mixed Feelings

Film Bank Productions

Rating – 1/10

Recommended – No

Reviewed By – Vivian Nappier

Int: Living Room – Day

Jeff and Amanda run down the stairs to the living room, professing their love for one another.

Jeff

You are like the sun, you brighten my mood. I love you so much

Amanda

I love u too, Jeff

Jeff

You do?

Amanda

Yes I do

Jeff

For wetin – I love you

Amanda

I really do love you

Jeff

I love you

Amanda

I love you

Jeff

I know!!!!

They run back upstairs, supposed silhouette shot of them taking off their clothes and making love

Welcome to the world of “Mixed Feelings” – A drama about a young couple with trust issues. Okay, seriously; it is a movie about a man (Alexx Ekubo) who goes through “a lot of risk” to plan a surprise engagement party for his girlfriend (Juliet Mgborukwe) but ends up getting a surprise of his own.  A lot of risk that is never portrayed in the movie, it was literally 1hr and 10mins of Jeff working on this surprise before his surprise eventually occurs

Alexx Ekubo doesn’t fail to disappoint once again with his ever predictable facial expressions and hand gestures like him expressing himself in a scene with his hands and eyes as he states “You are like the sun, you brighten my mood. I love you so much.” I secretly wished, for once, that he will actually channel the character he is playing but of course, this is a wish yet to be fulfilled.

Juliet Mgborukwe left me in a state of endless laughter, from her stating that he is tickling her ribs to her endless facial exaggeration to let us the audience, know she is angry and about to deliver a priceless line! My favorite in the entire movie is “It’s not over, till it’s over!” I haven’t seen her in a lot of movies but honestly, I don’t think I will anytime soon.

Kiki Opuru Ifeanyi plays the wedding planner; I am not sure why a wedding planner was needed to plan an engagement party in this movie. I expected a little more sophisticated wardrobe and professionalism for her character but left disappointed. Ms. Ifeanyi is a new actress in Nollywood and frankly, I am already frightened by her performance. It was sadly entertaining to watch her struggle with cheesy lines like: “You are indeed my Knight in a shining – armor this night, are you sure you don’t want to come in for a drink” I had so much trouble understanding what she was saying, it took 3 replays to finally figure out what she said.

Ebuka Ejimkonye plays Amanda’s brother – His performance left me speechless. Honestly, I don’t even know what to say about this actor…. Was there a casting or rehearsal for this project?

Victoria Egbuchere plays Stacy, Amanda’s best friend – She played the typical best friend who is always concerned but never really comes up with a solution. Although I was more captivated by her eye rolling skills, she literally rolled her eyes 10 times in a scene of 1 minute and 35 seconds (Yes, I counted!)

Junior Omoigberale plays Ben, Jeff’s best friend – This character had most of the ridiculous lines in the movie. I kept trying to figure out why he always felt the need to close his eyes when delivering his lines, sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was sober or if it was a character choice. I will give him the benefit of a doubt.

There were a lot of generic Nollywood sequences and movements. For example, we literally watch Jeff make breakfast. We see Jeff place tomatoes in a plate, rinse his hands, rinse the tomatoes, place it back on the plate, take out a knife, rinse the knife, starts slicing the tomatoes, and then leaving it to find the cucumber and pepper, rinsing the cucumber, searching for another ingredient, and back to slicing the tomatoes – WHY???????  The icing on the cake was him taking the breakfast to his girlfriend and then informing her that he made breakfast, while holding the said breakfast and after making us watch him make this wonderful breakfast of noodles.

Some scenes left me puzzled, like literally puzzled and trying to put pieces together. I still don’t understand all the mysterious locations and people. The scene puzzle that stands out the most is that of a pool. Here we see Jeff and Kiki dancing in a very tight corner, by a mysterious pool with no one. I was left wondering, why is Jeff dancing with Kiki by this pool at night? What event is this for? Is this a house? Is this a public pool? Where are we? What is going on? Why did we have to watch a 2 minute scene of no conversation but two people dancing in a tight corner, by the pool? I need to know why this scene exists.

There were ghost moves in the movie, like the mysterious unseen bartender in every shot of Ben and Jeff, and the unseen gateman at Jeff’s home.

Some scenes were really unnecessary and unrealistic. Never have I seen two people, go to a bar only to have 3 lines conversation like “planning a surprise for my girlfriend, don’t know what to do yet but I will let you know when I do.” And then leave. In what planet does this happen? With all the traffic and parking issues to get anywhere! Why can’t this conversation be done over the phone? I mean, this is the year 2015!

I got really irritated with the endless hands, eyes and phone gestures made by every actor, like it was a necessity. Surely, there are other ways to talk or make a point without demonstrating every word being said.

Production nearly had me in tears. Nollywood has always had problems with sound, although it is getting better now. Every conversation in the car was very difficult to understand due to poor sound issues. Speaking of car sequence, I still can’t believe that I sat down and watched 2 actors ramble about and sing out loud to a song not yet played but indicated it was being played? I am still trying to figure out what exactly this was about. The boom microphone made its appearance at some point in the movie, about 3 times to be exact, I was almost forced to say hello to it.

There were several inconsistencies in lines and continuity, not surprised but disappointed that in this day and age, this is still a problem in Nollywood.

Overall, I had a few laughs, not because it was meant to be a comedy, but because the acting was so bad, it became a comedy.

Reviewed by Vivvy Laird Osa