Starring: Monalisa Chinda, Alexx Ekubo, Williams Uche Mba

Synopsis: A waiter’s acquaintance with a frequent patron morphs into a life changing business relationship. 

Review:
Tony and Maimuna (Alexx Ekubo & Ebenezer Eno) had been dating for five years but financial difficulties caused friction in their relationship. Tony worked as a waiter and wished for his own restaurant but his dream seemed out of reach.

When his paycheck was unexpectedly docked, forcing him to renege on money he promised Maimuna, it was the last straw. She moved out and into the home of Ifeanyi (Williams Uche Mba), a man of financial means who had been pursuing her.

Meanwhile, Tony had become familiar with a patron that frequented the restaurant where he worked and while their friendship blossomed, Maimuna’s new relationship didn’t work out as she hoped. 

Let’s Talk. Money, money, money. It’s a common reason for discord among couples and this movie featured an unmarried couple where the woman’s love of money trumped her love for her boyfriend.

The story basically threw shade at gold diggers – you know, women who bring nothing to the table but their vaginas. And it’s not exactly special because every woman has one…

The story reflects that a career of seeking wealthy men isn’t sustainable especially for trifling women. A place of dependency in a relationship may trickle into ill-treatment because men recognize when women have no other alternative and/or the power to leave them.

The Maimuna character had the nerve to withhold sex from her rich boyfriend and that marked the end of their relationship. It’s an equal exchange, right? He provides the money and she the sex? So once she backtracked on her end of the deal, he exercised his right to purchase another woman…the same way he purchased her.

Karma played a role in the story when Maimuna abruptly left Tony but then came crawling back when Ifeanyi dumped her. Turned out that the grass wasn’t really greener. With no man, Maimuna was then left in a pickle as would any woman who depended on a man for a living.

Monalisa Chinda played the female restaurant patron and this is where fantasy came in. At first it looked like her friendship with Tony (Alexx Ekubo) was headed toward romance and I suddenly had flashbacks of “Lagos Cougars.” It turned out that their connection was more on a maternal level and Monalisa’s role served as an angel in disguise.

Of course, there were story nuisances such as the scene where Maimuna came home to find her boyfriend cheating and demanded to see him “right now.” He actually excused himself in the midst of his “sexcapade” to talk to her. Really? There was something unrealistic about this scene. Why didn’t Maimuna kick the girl out of her bed? 

Also questionable was the scene where Monalisa fell and had to be hospitalized. What a fake scene. Perhaps a stunt person was needed to successfully perform a slap/fall that appeared to be worthy of medical treatment.

Audio sufficed, sound was uneven and muffled in some scenes.

Ultimately, this movie neither excelled or flopped. See it if you’re a Monalisa Chinda or Alexx Ekubo fan. RECOMMEND