Title: THE BEST MAN (1 & 2) 

Starring: Jackie Appiah, Toosweet Annan, Smart Maxwell

Synopsis:

A woman about to get married develops a crush on her fiancé’s best man and then loses her grip when he falls for her houseguest.

Review:

The unexpected occurred on the night before Reni and Dave’s wedding. Reni (Jackie Appiah) found herself attracted to Duke, the best man. Duke (Toosweet Annan) was oblivious to her feelings and only came to Nigeria to represent his friend. 

Months later, Duke returned to Nigeria to live, thanks to a job offer. Naturally, he hung out with Dave and came into contact with Reni. Her fascination with him escalated to a boiling point especially when he expressed an interest in Pearl (Onyinye Obi), who came to live with them after she was raped by her stepfather.  

When Reni learned of Pearl’s romance with Duke, she forbade her to continue seeing him, claiming that Pearl was too young and that she needed to finish her studies first.

When she thought she had things under control, Reni made her feelings known to Duke but her husband walked in on them causing an awkward situation.  

Let’s Talk. This is a trivial story about a woman that had a crush on her husband’s best friend. When you think about a title like “The Best Man” all sorts of scenarios come to mind however whatever you can imagine did not happen in this movie. To tell the truth, nothing happened in this movie. 

Supposedly, the events were based on a true story but the truth should have been embellished a little in order to make it more interesting and believable. The story set up was sloooow and damn near comatose. By the end of part one, the story had no clear direction as it jumped around with different subplots. 

The movie failed to excite due to an overabundance of general dialogue. As mentioned in prior reviews, when it comes to dialogue driven scripts, the dialogue has to be sharp, witty, and about an interesting topic in order to sustain interest. This was not the case here. 

As for the story, the fact that Reni was a married woman that had a crush on someone else was feasible. It happens. Married people aren’t dead. But the storyline was defunct and then it receded to a school girl/campus drama after it dropped the first subplot about rape. 

Speaking of rape, it was taken too casually in the movie. Rape is a crime. Reni’s uncle repeatedly raped Pearl and then Reni claimed she didn’t want to report him because she would then have to spend her money to bail him out. Huh? Did those words really come out of a woman’s mouth? So it’s okay for her uncle to get away with it? If she made the decision to put him in prison then she also made the decision that she wouldn’t be bailing him out. Sigh… 

It’s unfortunate that the chemistry between Jackie and Toosweet Annan wasn’t explored. When you look at them, they look like they can play siblings or lovers. They’re good-looking people and the story may have been more alluring if Toosweet played Jackie’s husband. There could have been some sizzle if Toosweet’s character was attracted to Jackie’s but he miraculously fell in love with Pearl for no apparent reason. 

As for technical issues, the sound was terrible. There was so much noise in the background and in some instances the dialogue was completely inaudible. New microphones were needed. 

Also, there’s a scene where Duke takes a call on his cell phone. It’s obvious that he’s not really speaking to anyone because the icons on the phone could be seen. We all have cell phones and we know that the home screen appears by default when the phone isn’t in use. 

Performances? One thing that can be said about Toosweet Annan is that he doesn’t overact. He needs to move away from “C” list movies and land a role that will really display his range. Maybe he has and I just haven’t seen it yet. As for Jackie Appiah, her role didn’t require her to bring her “A” game and we’ve seen her play this type of character before. 

There were errors in the credits. Toosweet Annan was listed as playing Dave when he played Duke. Smart Maxwell was listed as playing Duke when he played Dave. The credits were actually a mess as some credits scrolled over others and were illegible. 

The DVD cover states the movie is called “The Best Man.” When the movie plays it says just “Best Man.” What’s the correct title? Yes, these small details matter. 

As mentioned above, “The Best Man” is based on a true story. The movie is most likely the storytellers’ wishful and narrow version of the real events. There’s a saying that “there’s three sides to a story – your side, their side, and the truth” and this movie represents one side.

The fact that Duke wasn’t even remotely attracted to Reni is questionable. Had he harbored feelings for her like she did him, then it would have established a concrete conflict and opened the door to play with moral obligations. Otherwise, the story was just comprised of bland elements that weren’t worth telling. EJECT