Starring: Mary Lazarus, Eve Esin, Ruth Kadiri

Synopsis:
Three women who met in college reunite for the funeral of one of their classmates.

Review:
It wasn’t that long ago that Pecky, Debbie, Yinka, and Shiafe were roommates at a university. Pecky and Debbie (Mary Lazarus & Eve Esin) were the “bad” girls while Yinka (Ruth Kadiri) practiced a life of faith.

The fourth girl, Shiafe (Princess Peters), was the topic of the movie. During college she suffered a set back when her parents separated and her father cut off financial support. Her mother died shortly after and with no way to pay for her education, she resorted to prostitution.

Cut to years later, Shiafe was murdered by a ritualist and the women reconnected as a result The funeral served as the place for them to reflect and to also make overdue confessions.

Let’s Talk. This is a campus movie. The title doesn’t give that impression but at the end of the day that’s what it really was.

What’s strange was that the movie opened up with Shiafe’s murder but very little detail was given surrounding her death. She was the reason her friends came together, yet her storyline went by the wayside.

Most of the movie was bogged down by flashbacks of events that took place at the university. The women smoked, partied, and had sex for money – all things we’ve seen in this genre before.

As for story execution and direction, it was choppy. One minute we were at the funeral, the next we were at the university, and at other times we were in the present revisiting one of the girl’s lives. It jumped about too much. It was difficult to ascertain where the movie was going or what it was trying to accomplish. It felt like a bumpy ride that would never end.

Ultimately, the women came to the realization that they weren’t happy with the way their lives turned out but their situations were not concluded. For instance, what became of Pecky and Debbie’s marriages? Maybe a little less time on campus would have made room for a thorough story.

Performances were satisfactory. The women blessed the characters with their talent and made them interesting despite the chaotic script. 

“The Girls are not Smiling” and neither am I. With a half-baked story that offered nothing profound, there really isn’t a concrete reason to watch this. EJECT