Reviewed by Augusta Okon

Movie Title : Phone Swap
Starring : Wale Ojo, Nse Ikpe Etim, Joke Silva,
Chika Okpala, Hafiz Oyetoro,Lydia Forson,
Ada Ameh
Directed by : Kunle Afolayan
Genre : Comedy/romance

Despite the ground breaking impact of Kingsley Ogoro’s pace setting, wave making, hilarious movie, ‘Usofia/Osuofia in London’(2003) which shut the mouth of skeptics, broke barriers and stepped on to the international plate, comedy continues to jog slowly in its “outdated mediocrity jogging foot wear”, rather than sprint in modern spike shoes and burn the movie tracks. Its counterpart “drama and romance” bask in the euphoria of ‘winning streaks’ adding multitudinous titles and awards in their kitties. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, with Funke Akindele’s ‘The Return of Jenifa’ (sequel to Jenifa) ‘shaking’ the Nigerian box office with N33 Million as one of the top grossing movies of 2011. This indicates one thing…Nigerians love comedy…and a quality one at that!.

Kunle Afolayan, the multi-award winning filmmaker with a “no holds barred” ideology, takes a radical departure from his previous genres (Irapada- drama), (The Figurine- thriller) to walk upon the lonely comedy path in a bid to pull off another stunning production. The big question is…does he pull it off successfully?”.

Phone Swap a. k a ‘P.S’, is a N 60 Million budget movie shot for six months within Nigeria. It boasts of a high pulsating, strong hearted plot, unparalleled acting dexterity from a solid cast, visual opulence, ‘void’ of unrealistically twisty boring scenes played in the messy maze game, created by charlatan script writers. Award winning screenplay writer, Kemi Adesoye, keeps ‘PS’ simple, fresh, exciting, and of course funny.

The movie in inter-played scenes unveils the lead characters; the male, Akin (Wale Ojo) an ambitious, arrogant, corporate executive and a ‘matured bachelor’ bereft of emotions and the female lead, Mary Onyejekwe (Nse Ikpe Etim) a pretty seamstress who works for a ‘shark’ at Alexis. Akin poses as a threat to his immediate boss who is determined to hit him below the belt. He has reformation strategies for the company, tucked underneath his sleeves and plans on unveiling same at the company’s retreat, but there’s a little problem.

The venue has been kept as a secret, and he entrusts its unravelling to his trusted P.A, Alex (Hafiz Oyetoro). Mary on the other hand has series of issues to contend with ; a broken heart, an overweight sister, Cynthia (Ada Amah) who is a police officer, specializing in terrorizing her husband, in-laws, and is no where to be found after grabbing her husband’s ‘manhood’, her father (Chika Okpala) insisting on her being at the family meeting to resolve the burning issue, while her boss disapproves of same. She has a change of heart and permits her to see to the issue within a limited time frame, alongside doing some embroidery on a high profile client’s outfit while away.

The retreat has been slated to hold in Abuja and both parties in inter-played scenes hurriedly make a dash for the airport. They accidentally bump into each other and ‘good Samaritans’ hand them their black berry phones which they gladly receive. However, messages received on their ‘BBs’ alter their destined venues with Akin heading for Owerri and Mary for Abuja. This costly “phone swap’ threatens to rip apart their professional and family life, but Akin suggests a hasty solution to the looming problem…one that could have certain consequences he never bargained for…

‘PS’ adopts the use of English, our national colloquial (vernacular) pints of Igbo, Yoruba, and the Ghanaian languages as the communication vehicles. Each unfolding scene, interplay, fuels our interest as we mentally change expectation gears. It’s really hard to flaw this movie especially in terms of technicality as the graduate of the New York Film Academy, no doubt paid attention to details. The cinematography was solid (loved the cinematic effect of the farmland), good angle on and crane up shots... read more on http://9aijabooksandmovies./2012/04/25/phone-swap-movie-review/