Sodas & Popcorn Movie Review: When Love Happens

Director: Seyi Babatope
Written by: Seyi Babatope, Diche Enunwa and Temitope Bolade
Cast:Weruche Opia, OC Ukeje, Beverly Naya, Oreka Godis, Gideon Okeke, Keppy Epeyong Bassy and Shaffy Bello.

I get tired of seeing the same cast all the time. While we do love the Ramseys and Omotolas, sometimes, it gets old seeing these guys all the time in the same movies. You have probably seen them in all variations and characters you could think of. There is really nothing so new to see anymore. That’s probably why I am not so interested in the movie Serena starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence…its getting old seeing those two together!….But then I digress.

My point is, more frequently, we need to see a young team which haven’t been seen before. Even better than having a young team, is a young talented team…with or without the “oyinbo” accents. And the most welcoming development is having screen veterans team up with young talents from arguably unknown filmmakers to make a good movie.

When Love Happens is a romantic comedy which tells the story of Mo, a 28 year old (that’s not so old, what’s her problem sef!) event planner who plans the biggest weddings in town but hasn’t gotten round to having her own wedding yet. This gets her worried and desperate (even though she won’t admit) and goes searching for love in all the wrong places when love was always in her face. Story of our lives.

The tagline for the movie says “Love Makes An Unexpected Arrival”. Well, that’s not so true. Right from the very first minute we saw the-would-be-happy-ending–couple together onscreen, we knew where the expected arrival of love will be made. But that doesn’t kill the vibe of the movie. The When Love Happens script writing trio Seyi Babatope, Diche Enunwa and Temitope Bolade still go on to deliver a lovely comedy where the jokes are actually funny and even sometimes laugh out loud hilarious. The relationship between Mo and her parents, although exaggerated sometimes (like the mom standing in the dark while waiting for her daughter’s arrival from a date), were well portrayed like a typical elite Nigerian family.

My biggest issue with the movie was the relationship between Mo (Weruche Opia) and Tobe(Gideon Okeke). If they were indeed best of friends and Tobe was the deeply friend zoned and go to guy she relies on whenever she had anything intimate to talk about, why didn’t we see a scene or two which built some chemistry for the two and showed an intimate onscreen time between them? The only exception was when Tseju probably got up for a drink or towards the end when the cat was almost out of the bag.

The most beautiful thing about the movie was the acting. It had a talented cast which helped make the movie a fun experience for me. New face in Nollywood and lead character Weruche Opia was flexible and energetic, helping her bring home her performance. It was always fun seeing her face but her facial expressions sometimes seemed over exaggerated. Oreka Godis was beautiful and spectacular for her debut feature film role. I would actually love to see her more often. Shaffy Bello and Keppy Ekpeyong as the happy old couple were so lovely and had unmatched chemistry. No wonder their daughter Mo felt so pressured. Beverly Naya was simply stunning as the obnoxious and arrogant bride to be. I almost believed that was her personality in real life. OC Ukeje’s James Bondly swagger and soft spoken arrogant prick character was also really good and funny. Gideon Okeke was good, but I didn’t feel him much. I kept seeing his Tinsel character ‘Phillip Ade Williams’ and I feel this role deserved a lot more than that. But his relationship proposal rehearsal scene was straight up hilarious though. Nicely done.

Hopefully, he delivers a better performance in upcoming thriller, A Place In The Stars.

Kudos to Seyi Babatope for one of the best productions of the year. When Love Happens is a well-directed movie, with a lovely cast and crew. It’s interesting to see that all but one or two of the cast were all Nigerian. Including the production designer and cinematographer. The costuming and locations were also very impressive.

When Love Happens delivers a very fun time for me. I went in expecting nothing out of the ordinary but came out with a smile on my face. If you are a fan of simple, fun and family healthy comedies, you would love this one.

When Love Happens gets a Popcorn and Soda.

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