Synopsis – Tamara Jola-Scott (Sandra Okunzuwa) is a spoiled rich kid who treats everyone poorly. Unfortunately for her, her father is arrested for embezzlement, her wedding is canceled, and she is abandoned by friends and family. Aunty Mayowa, their former housemaid, comes to her rescue, and she now has to deal with living in the ghetto with Aunty Mayowa.
There was nothing new or exciting about the story, the overall execution was also really bad. With better direction and performances it could have been less painful to watch but unfortunately, Kayode Kasum, the director of this film, was unable to give us a nice romance story.
What did I like about this film?
I did not like this film at all. There was nothing remarkable about the cinematography, setting, and the other technical elements, so I can’t even comment on them. I must say I liked the soundtrack “Running to You” by Chike; it is such a beautiful song, and it was the only bright light because every time it was played, it made me happy. Apart from that, I felt really frustrated watching this film.
What were the issues?
Acting and casting were not great. Mercy Johnson’s performance was not bad, it was the only one that was worth watching, the other characters in this film were not impressive in any way. Sandra Okunzuwa is not a bad actress, but she did not do justice to this role. She was just screaming; her reactions were exaggerated, and everything just seemed very forced, like she was overacting. Kunle Remi did not do much in this film; he played it safe, just showed up, delivered his lines, and moved on—nothing to like, nothing to hate. Just there. Timini was Timini if you know what I mean. The other extras in this film? Very disappointing.
The main issue I had with this film was the storytelling. So many things were off; the pacing was too slow, so many scenes were unnecessarily long and boring. There were no high points; this film, that was supposed to be a romance film, was not sweet, it was not cute… in fact, when you consider Tamara’s headache-inducing screeching, I felt like I was punishing myself by watching this film because there was no single payoff.
I did not like this film because it did not do justice to the theme it addressed. Apart from being a romance film, this was supposed to be a story about redemption. For movies like this, the lead character goes through a period of self-reflection; we see the character evolve and become a better person. What makes stories like this special is watching this character interact with and positively impact the people in the new community/environment. I was waiting to see the moment Tamara would let go of her pride and do a self appraisal but it never happened. Tamara did not actually change; she remained the same all through. The experience did nothing for her, even though she got to meet her real mother; it was not a remarkable moment either… so I wondered what the point of the movie was.
The love story between Tamara and Tunde the Carpenter was another weird angle. It just did not feel natural; there was no chemistry between them. They did not have that connection; they did not have interactions that could have inspired love. There were too many awkward moments. Most of their interactions were really weird for example, that scene where she bought him a suit and kept on repeating, “It’s cheap, just N200k,” I just rolled my eyes because what was that?
The relationship between Tunde and Yemisi was another redundant part of this film because was that thing supposed to be a triangle?? It just did not work. I don’t know the relevance of the movie script Yemisi was working on; they mentioned it in passing, but I did not feel like we really got to know Tunde. He was a carpenter living in the “ghetto”, it would have been nice to know more. The time that should have been spent on character development was spent on irrelevant scenes.
I did not like the fact that this film glossed over all the important details. We never saw her father get arrested; he just randomly told her outside their house. The way Aunty Mayowa just randomly revealed that she was Tamara’s real mother was also a letdown. It could have and should have been more. The way they just glossed over the injustice that Mayowa endured and the fact that her boss took advantage of her, impregnated her, and left her to live an impoverished life did not sit well with me.
Moving on, the dialogue was really bad, and so most scenes just felt like they missed the mark. For example, the scene with the makeup artist and her friends, i understand what they were trying to achieve but it just was not working. The scene with her aunties was another bad one, the part where she woke up to Broda Shaggi’s voice was another terrible scene, how about the scene where her phone was stolen, i could actually go on and on.
But there were two particular scenes that annoyed my soul! The part where she dreamt that Timini was fighting kung fu and the part where everybody on the street started dancing..… I was confused!! From where to where? This girl never even interacted with these people because she still felt she was bigger than them, so where is this dance coming from?
To make matters worse, the next moment, we see Segun Arinze making reference to the dance video and saying Tamara had become an international sensation, he then went on to insult his son, and I was wondering because of this dance? Not only did the idea of the dance and the circumstances surrounding it becoming viral did not make sense, but the dance itself was not even great!
To make matters worse, this film also wanted us to believe that Segun Arinze decided to help his friend who was in jail and also approved his son’s wedding to Tamara just because of this same dance… it is well.
This film disappointed me from the very first scene but the end was even worse, it was so bad, it made me cringe. From the point where Timini picked her up, Tunde’s fictitious presentation, Yemisi and her aso-ebi to the point where Tamara went to reconcile with Tunde and after their bland conversation, to make matters worse, they started dancing! If I were a cursing woman, I would have said bad things to them for wasting my time, but thank God I am not, I am a child of God…so it is well with them😁.
Overall, a deeply unsatisfying movie. I don’t know what inspired the title of this film, but it was nothing like gold. It was underwhelming and boring, especially since the two leads had no chemistry whatsoever. Poor script, terrible performances, lazy direction. Something like Gold is a terrible time waster.
My Rating: 1.5/10.
Have you seen the movie, please share your thoughts with us in the comments below
Read the review of With Difficulty Comes Ease here.
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