Review- Seven & a Half Dates (2018)

   Starring Mercy Johnson, Sola Sobowale, Jim Iyke & Toyin Abraham, Seven & a Half Dates centered around Bisola (played by Johnson) a young lady whose work life makes it hard for her to have time for relationships. Her younger sister, Mabel, gets engaged and this makes her parents a bit worried that Bisola is running out of time on her marriage clock leaving her father to set her up on 10 blind dates hoping that she may end up with one of them.

    Nollywood has been dishing out a lot of disappointing films this year. The story lines always seem recycled and it’s getting really tiring. Same old predictable rom-coms we’ve all seen a billion times. This was a very unrealistic plot with a lot of laughable scenes that’ll make you question why you actually made the decision to see this film. Seemed like they picked the plot from an old Hollywood film. Which Nigerian father would set up his daughter on not one or two but TEN blind dates ? It sounds hilarious just thinking about it. I loved Sola Sobowale as the Nigerian mother who thinks marriage is the only thing life has to offer. She played her role really well and shone in every scene she appeared in. Toyin Abraham’s Biodun was more of the comic relief but I felt like she was doing too much in some of the scenes.

   The dialogue was very very cliche and you could literally predict what the actor was going to say next. I loved what they did with the domestic abuse sub plot. Bisola’s parents acted exactly how some Nigerian parents act. So obsessed with marriage and willing to let their children end up in horrible homes just for the sake of saving face and keeping up appearances. Although, they would have done something better with Mabel’s bruises. She had the same bruise in some of the scenes and I wish they gave her some other bruises on her face or other parts of her body to make it look a bit more realistic. When it comes to sponsorship advertising in Nollywood films, they seem to get it wrong most of the time. They had this weird thing going on with a magazine and it got really irritating. How was Jason able to get Bisola’s father’s number without her knowledge? And in what country does someone that has a thing with a girl suddenly call her father to intervene in their issues without them  knowing each other personally. Jason called Bisola’s dad to help him talk to Bisola when she stopped picking his calls even though he had never been introduced to her father before. And what Nigerian has Gomez as their last name? There was a lot going on in Seven and a Half Dates that made this movie experience a very funny one. I still haven’t given up on Nollywood and I’m really hoping they do better with their scripts. 

RATING 4/10

DIRECTOR Biodun Stephen

STARRING Mercy Johnson, Jim Iyke, Sola Sobowale, Toyin Abraham, Bayray McNwizu
RELEASE DATE August 3, 2018