PHONE SWAP- The Review PT 1

The movie Phone Swap can easily pass as one the most effective comic films produced in the history of Nollywood movies.I know I'm a bit stale and all, seeing that the movie was released in the year 2012, but reviewing Phone Swap I believe will be a good way to revive my blog which has been fallowing for over a year ;)

Lets Get down to the Review proper. Phone Swap was officially released in the year 2012 as mentioned above, but those who didn't have the opportunity to watch it that year (C'est moi), have been able to purchase ORIGINAL DVDs which were released sometime in December last year (2014).

The Cast of the movie Phone Swap is extremely rich because it's filled with Veterans, A-List Actors and Upcoming actors and actresses alike. These Actors include Joke Sylva, Chika Okpala (Zebrudaya), Wale Ojo, Nse Ikpe Etim, Lydia Forson, Ada Ameh, Chika Chukwu, Hafiz Oyetoro (Saka) among others. It was directed by our very own Kunle Afolayan. The Story was written by the very talented Kemi Adesoye.

Phone Swap is a Romantic Comedy about two adults who bumped into each other at the airport and mistakenly swapped phones. This event leads them into a weekend in each other’s lives. Akin finds himself in Owerri (Mary's Hometown), while Mary finds herself in Abuja (Akin's family home). Both worlds are poles apart as Mary Lands in Paradise while Akin lands in what seems like Hell. Both parties have to seize the opportunity to help each other achieve what was actually taking them to their various destinations. Akin had to Solve some Family issues while Mary had to help Akin deliver a message to the chairman of the organization where he works. There are however so many scenes in-between that excellently portray life in Rural and Urban Nigeria respectively.

Now i'm about to get down and dirty. there's no such thing as a perfect movie. Movies can be near perfection at most but often times than not, there are usually errors that are either glaring or subliminal in what some of us might call the BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME. i'll try as much as possible to support my claims with pictorial evidence *wink*

Now, look at that dress Madam Alexis (Mary's Boss) is holding. According to the movie, that dress is worth 100,000 Naira. Infact let me write it in words: One Hundred Thousand Naira !!! The dress is pretty BUT even in high end boutiques down here in Abuja and probably in Dubai, you can't purchase a dress like this for more than Thirty Thousand Naira (30,000), which is still very expensive. They should've made the price of the dress realistic.

Let me start this part by saying i am a huge Hafiz Oyetoro (Saka) fan, but his talent was underused in this movie. His character was supposed to be this funny office snoop who gathers underground info for his boss, and also supplies info to other people about his boss. He was obviously trying so hard to be funny but eventually nailed 20% of the comic relief he was supposed to deliver. Love you Saka but the truth according to my books has got to be said.

I wish I had an audio clip to back up my next point (Will work on that) but I hope this photo helps. Look out for this phone call scene at the beginning. Mary according to this movie is an Igbo girl from Imo State, Nigeria. In reality though, Nse Ikpe Etim is from Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. There was a serious mother tongue interference in the Igbo she spoke all through the movie. It was an excellent attempt but MTI just had to mess things up for her delivery.

This next point is what I call 'The Tyler Perry Syndrome'. I'll explain. The Tyler Perry Syndrome can be defined as the situation where the director of a movie acts in most or all of his or her movies. I believe the job of a director is tough enough as it is. Adding acting to directing can be very tasking. I really don't know how Tyler Perry does it but he is in most or all of his movies. Kunle Afolayan (The Recharge Card Person Above) is in almost if not all the movies he has directed. There are a million and one upcoming actors out there who can execute this role perfectly well. He should give such persons a shot so that when the person finally makes the A-List, he'd be proud to have helped in building his or her acting career.

The final oops moment in my books is the part where Madam Alexis decided to pay for a two way flight ticket to Owerri for Mary to go and sort out her FAMILY ISSUES. Now this point is based on making stories realistic. There are good people with kind hearts in Nigeria, but which small scale business owner will take out money in the region of 50,000 Naira to pay for her staff's flight ticket? The highest she would've done is to allow her travel. That is more realistic. If she had asked for a loan, then that's a different story entirely. Like I said earlier, if she had just permitted her to travel for a couple of days, it would've been more realistic.

At this particular juncture, we're going to take a break. Watch out for the other part of this review which has all the surplus A Class moments in this movie ranging from acting, to costumes, set designs, make up, soundtrack, you name it. All claims will be backed up with pictorial evidence.

God Bless You For reading Part 1!!! And don't forget to share *Wink*