Phone Swap
Director: Kunle Afolayan
CAST: Wale Ojo, Nse Etim Ikpe, Joke Silva, Chika Okpala, Hafiz Oyetoro, Ada Ameh
“Phone Swap” is a movie about a firm career man, Akin (Wale Ojo) and an artistic tailor, Mary (Nse Etim Ikpe). Akin is on a mission to outsmart his colleagues in the office who never liked him due to his shrewd business mind. They plan to attend a retreat in Abuja over the weekend to meet the new major shareholder of the company, without his knowledge. His loyal spy, Alex (Hafiz Oyetoro), is on his toes to provide him with information about the retreat. Mary, on the other hand is excited because her very demanding and strict boss decides to pay for her flight to Owerri to attend a family meeting where she has been summoned by her father (Chika Okpala).
At the airport, a visibly excited Mary bumps into Akin. While retrieving their belongings from the floor, they erroneously swapped phones. This marked the beginning of a life changing journey for them.
Akin mixed up his flight and ended up in Owerri and is stuck with Mary’s family who are a bunch of hilarious people. Mary on the other hand finds herself on the wrong flight to Abuja .She has to go to Akin’s mother’s house for the weekend where she meets Kike (Joke Silva) a reformed drunk trying to get her son’s love back after maltreating him in his growing up years.
As the weekend rolls by, Akin and Mary discover a whole new meaning to family, loving and being loved in return.
The movie is a comedy that is thrilling as each act comes alive with hilarious performances.
It also portrays women in an entirely different light as against the standard roles of money lovers, sex objects and lousy people. Although they had their imperfections just like every human being, they are beautiful, strong, smart and humorous and that added flavour to the movie.
The use of local languages like Yoruba and Igbo gave the movie a touch of realism. It is a common knowledge that Nigerians hardly speak the English language without incorporating a bit of their native tongue or Pidgin English. This was tactfully depicted in the movie with subtitles. The suspense is complimented with an exciting soundtrack as the storyline skillfully joins the aspect of emotion and humour to a perfect blend. The transition from one scene to the other was done well.
The cast of the movie was professionally chosen as the actors interpreted their roles very well. Nse Ikpe Etim is certainly an actress to reckon with as she executed her roles with precision and class. Wale Ojo, who is not a famous Nollywood actor, stayed in character as a prim and proper career man. He is one to look out for in Nollywood. Chika Okpala alias Chief Zebrudaya also displayed his comical self.
The director must be highly commended for his creativity and dedication towards transforming the face of Nollywood.
The film is devoid of ridiculous costumes, terrible locations, bad scripts and bogus phonetics that has for so long flooded and ridiculed the Nigerian movie sector. It combines the serene nature of rural environment with the fast pace of urban settings.
However, some shots of the movie were not clear enough; perhaps a 3D camera would have saved the day. The advert placements by a major mobile service provider and an airline were glaring as the movie progressed.
“Phone Swap” is a movie that shows the creativeness of Nollywood and is certainly worth watching over and over again.
Filed Under: Movie Review
