Dear Cypress Ghana Blog Readers,
“Single. Married and Complicated” premiered on the KNUST campus. An Yvonne Nelson production, which already had an acclaimed prequel known for being star-studded and… I was going to find out the reason everyone revered it so. Thanks to Insel Media and Vim expose (who media-partnered the event)!
I called up Sandra, my reviewing partner, who’s always up to rip apart (in a good way) any literary piece as much as I was. We crossed paths from the different directions of our hostels, and strode the way up to the Lecture Theatre (the supposed venue of the premiere).
The first show was going to be aired at seven, the posters all around campus read. So gutted were we upon finding the venue unprepared with hardly anyone except for the theatre crew getting the red carpet set. Apparently everyone else but us had received the memo: GMT.
Blame the rain, blame good ol’ Ghanaian attitude with the tendency to show up at eleventh-hours of every event. The theatre’s entrance was piled up with an eager audience, waiting to sit through the movie, whiles eating, munching, and slurping from straws. Sandra and I, though in school with all these other students (freshers mostly), find it hard to adhere to this particular school of thought that insists on giant tubs of popcorn and plastic cups of “Sobolo” a necessity in order to lose themselves (without focusing on kissing their teeth for corn held hostage) for an hour and a half in a flick.
Hours later (convert Greenwich MT seven o’ clock to GMT and you would get a hint of the exact time) we settled in our seats ready to be blown away.
MY REVIEW ON THE MOVIE :
The first thing that caught my attention wasn’t Yvonne Nelson’s taut abs (sadly), it was the quality of the movie’s picture. Following Shelly Frimpong Manso’s Adam’s Apples, I really do not think I have sat through another Ghanaian movie, let alone admired the picture quality of one. They say Ghanaian movies have really gotten better, and to be honest, they really have. Now whatever this movie was shot with, it looked as perfect as Super OD’s teeth.
Absolutely perfect and for once it really did feel I wasn’t watching something shot with a 3:00MP TECNO phone (I would know because I use one!), but something worth viewing. A star to the picture quality.
Oh, you would so love the soundtracks that the set comedic tone of this movie. I was really pleased since I was expecting to sit through an hour-and-a-half of silence filled with voices of the characters, enough to hear a pin drop even if that wasn’t intended by the sound technicians. Whoever handled this movie’s soundtrack did a marvelous job. What’s a great comedic movie without a nice set of instrumentals (not high-life, yay!) giving the whole piece a very professional outlook? A star to whoever got the soundtrack right.
Ghanaian humour has gotten better. Really, better. Whoever did the script of this new movie certainly didn’t miss his comedy 101 lectures. But (—there’s a but!), most of the film’s comedic lines were based on corrections for emphasis to justify a point or come clean to one character. This skill to generate humor though timeless, when constantly repeated, gives the audience very little to laugh about as the movie progresses. All in all, it had a good script laced with the right amount of humor to get the audience (—except boring, too uptight and low sense of humor me—) even Sandra, guffawing.
Now to the characters and their roles.
Anita Erskine:
“Single. Married and Complicated” premiered on the KNUST campus. An Yvonne Nelson production, which already had an acclaimed prequel known for being star-studded and… I was going to find out the reason everyone revered it so. Thanks to Insel Media and Vim expose (who media-partnered the event)!
I called up Sandra, my reviewing partner, who’s always up to rip apart (in a good way) any literary piece as much as I was. We crossed paths from the different directions of our hostels, and strode the way up to the Lecture Theatre (the supposed venue of the premiere).
The first show was going to be aired at seven, the posters all around campus read. So gutted were we upon finding the venue unprepared with hardly anyone except for the theatre crew getting the red carpet set. Apparently everyone else but us had received the memo: GMT.
Blame the rain, blame good ol’ Ghanaian attitude with the tendency to show up at eleventh-hours of every event. The theatre’s entrance was piled up with an eager audience, waiting to sit through the movie, whiles eating, munching, and slurping from straws. Sandra and I, though in school with all these other students (freshers mostly), find it hard to adhere to this particular school of thought that insists on giant tubs of popcorn and plastic cups of “Sobolo” a necessity in order to lose themselves (without focusing on kissing their teeth for corn held hostage) for an hour and a half in a flick.
Hours later (convert Greenwich MT seven o’ clock to GMT and you would get a hint of the exact time) we settled in our seats ready to be blown away.
MY REVIEW ON THE MOVIE :
The first thing that caught my attention wasn’t Yvonne Nelson’s taut abs (sadly), it was the quality of the movie’s picture. Following Shelly Frimpong Manso’s Adam’s Apples, I really do not think I have sat through another Ghanaian movie, let alone admired the picture quality of one. They say Ghanaian movies have really gotten better, and to be honest, they really have. Now whatever this movie was shot with, it looked as perfect as Super OD’s teeth.
Absolutely perfect and for once it really did feel I wasn’t watching something shot with a 3:00MP TECNO phone (I would know because I use one!), but something worth viewing. A star to the picture quality.
Oh, you would so love the soundtracks that the set comedic tone of this movie. I was really pleased since I was expecting to sit through an hour-and-a-half of silence filled with voices of the characters, enough to hear a pin drop even if that wasn’t intended by the sound technicians. Whoever handled this movie’s soundtrack did a marvelous job. What’s a great comedic movie without a nice set of instrumentals (not high-life, yay!) giving the whole piece a very professional outlook? A star to whoever got the soundtrack right.
Ghanaian humour has gotten better. Really, better. Whoever did the script of this new movie certainly didn’t miss his comedy 101 lectures. But (—there’s a but!), most of the film’s comedic lines were based on corrections for emphasis to justify a point or come clean to one character. This skill to generate humor though timeless, when constantly repeated, gives the audience very little to laugh about as the movie progresses. All in all, it had a good script laced with the right amount of humor to get the audience (—except boring, too uptight and low sense of humor me—) even Sandra, guffawing.
Now to the characters and their roles.
Anita Erskine:
But, I found her role overdone in lots of movies these days. Which certainly isn’t her fault but that of the scriptwriter/director. I thought the meeting with other ladies thing to discuss what men really want could have been portrayed very creatively so as it wouldn’t be another one big cliché in motion picture.
Post by YVONNE NELSON.
Chris Attoh
Perfectly executes his character as the husband who wants to outrival his wife’s (Yvonne Nelson) old flame. The Audience found his scenes hilarious and I did too (—twitching my lips once or twice counts). There are no buts. Chris Attoh pulled this role off better than he’d do a walk in “Tinsel” town. I was impressed. (Though I must admit, the fact that he’s the exact replica—in the looks arena—of my eldest brother is a plus for him too).
Yvonne Nelson (Kimora)
Amazing, as in recent times. Whenever Yvonne decides to flaunt her abs, I’m not sure it’s easy to make meaning out of her whole production thanks to absolute befuddlement. But here I am, reviewing this movie and remembering every bit of it like I’d only seen it a minute ago. Yes, it’s the best I have seen her act. And I didn’t even think embodying her character was a hard job since to me it seemed I was watching Yvonne Nelson instead of ‘Kimora’ (not Lee Simmons!).
Tana Adelana:
She plays the role of a newly-divorced wife who intends to live the life of a liberated woman shooing in multiple orgasms on a yacht (with James Gardiner). I loved her, she did marvellous and unlike some other supporting cast in the movie her performance wasn’t contrived. I swear, I could see her wearing the character as snugly as she did this(↑) outfit at the official movie premiere. But, she had this woman-on-top position with James Gardiner that got the laugh out of me (for the first time throughout the picture!) because of how ridiculously hilarious it looked.
I know we’ve had very worst sex scenes the past, but I’d put this way up there with a Kyeiwaa sex scene (that is, if another sequel would ever be shot). Needless to say, it was the worst sex scene I’d ever come across (—and I’ve seen grainy celeb sex tapes!—) enough to make me send gobs of spit flying onto the hair of a lady right in front me.
Alex Ekubo :
He really rocked in this movie. Absolutely Hilarious (the audience thought so, though my lips did twitch once. A sign!) No buts about him, really. He nailed his role as well as he did the punch that took Chris Attoh’s character out.
Eazzy:
Now some singers are born actresses, Eazzy is one of them… but perhaps in another production? I thought she was the biggest flop of the movie. One of the reasons I couldn’t name this flick perfect. If you think you’d want to really be entertained by watching Eazzy, you would be.
But do I have to mention this entertainment would be for all the wrong reasons? The audience laughed, jeered at her so much I wish she’d obeyed my wild gesticulations ordering her to go down, squat, or perhaps just disappear. It’s really not her fault though, I call it Bad Casting resulting in a case of Appalling Acting. Imagine Eazzy playing single, sweet, blushy girl-in-love, and when you do you’d probably wince with me. Aberewa Nana could have pulled her role off perfectly without the slightest hesitation (“Aberewa Nana Mentumiii”).
John Dumelo :
If you are expecting John to disappoint like he’s done in some of his worst productions, return this movie before you watch it. I must confess, like every Ghanaian movie fanatic, after this movie I’d officially become a “John boy!” He was his hilarious self like you’ve seen in some of his previous pictures. But if you’d ask me, which of course you have, his role was too safe.
Berla Mundi:
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Berla debuted in this movie, yet nailed it better than Yvonne Nelson did in her own debut. She was the star in this production. The audience agreed too with blasts of laughter as she was portraying a sex-starved woman trying to revv-up her sex life, or perhaps, if it wasn’t asking too much, get her husband (John Dumelo) to ‘rise up to the occasion’. A series of kinky, raunchy role-playing escapades gave the audience the blast they had the entire movie. She’s one to watch (smack her bottom over and over again)!
All in all, I felt this movie was good. It could have been great, but old storyline/themes seen time and time again in African movies were brought not-so-to-life (albeit with lovely humour).
My rating would have been a five out of ten but for Berla and John, I’d give a star to make it six. Sandra as well gave it a 6/10.
Yvonne Nelson (Kimora)
Amazing, as in recent times. Whenever Yvonne decides to flaunt her abs, I’m not sure it’s easy to make meaning out of her whole production thanks to absolute befuddlement. But here I am, reviewing this movie and remembering every bit of it like I’d only seen it a minute ago. Yes, it’s the best I have seen her act. And I didn’t even think embodying her character was a hard job since to me it seemed I was watching Yvonne Nelson instead of ‘Kimora’ (not Lee Simmons!).
Tana Adelana:
I know we’ve had very worst sex scenes the past, but I’d put this way up there with a Kyeiwaa sex scene (that is, if another sequel would ever be shot). Needless to say, it was the worst sex scene I’d ever come across (—and I’ve seen grainy celeb sex tapes!—) enough to make me send gobs of spit flying onto the hair of a lady right in front me.
Alex Ekubo :
Eazzy:
Now some singers are born actresses, Eazzy is one of them… but perhaps in another production? I thought she was the biggest flop of the movie. One of the reasons I couldn’t name this flick perfect. If you think you’d want to really be entertained by watching Eazzy, you would be.
But do I have to mention this entertainment would be for all the wrong reasons? The audience laughed, jeered at her so much I wish she’d obeyed my wild gesticulations ordering her to go down, squat, or perhaps just disappear. It’s really not her fault though, I call it Bad Casting resulting in a case of Appalling Acting. Imagine Eazzy playing single, sweet, blushy girl-in-love, and when you do you’d probably wince with me. Aberewa Nana could have pulled her role off perfectly without the slightest hesitation (“Aberewa Nana Mentumiii”).
John Dumelo :
If you are expecting John to disappoint like he’s done in some of his worst productions, return this movie before you watch it. I must confess, like every Ghanaian movie fanatic, after this movie I’d officially become a “John boy!” He was his hilarious self like you’ve seen in some of his previous pictures. But if you’d ask me, which of course you have, his role was too safe.
Berla Mundi:
Berla debuted in this movie, yet nailed it better than Yvonne Nelson did in her own debut. She was the star in this production. The audience agreed too with blasts of laughter as she was portraying a sex-starved woman trying to revv-up her sex life, or perhaps, if it wasn’t asking too much, get her husband (John Dumelo) to ‘rise up to the occasion’. A series of kinky, raunchy role-playing escapades gave the audience the blast they had the entire movie. She’s one to watch (smack her bottom over and over again)!
All in all, I felt this movie was good. It could have been great, but old storyline/themes seen time and time again in African movies were brought not-so-to-life (albeit with lovely humour).
My rating would have been a five out of ten but for Berla and John, I’d give a star to make it six. Sandra as well gave it a 6/10.
The audience (really, who thinks so high of their opinions anyway?) thought otherwise. And after collating a random rating of a sample of ten among the audience…
AVERAGE AUDIENCE RATING: 8/10
As the credits rolled up, you all might have checked my relationship status from ‘single’ to ‘married’, until after Sandra and I bumped into my childhood crush, Christabelle, as we headed towards the exits.
Is it just coincidental Complicated begins with a ‘C’?
Your Sometimes Very Well Misbehaved Representative - Kobby Tetteh Gyampoh.(Cypress Ghana)
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