Synopsis: Temi is an arrogant executive who prides himself as one with a firm grasp of the English language and ensures he corrects anyone who shows “grammatical impropriety.”
After 2 of his colleagues snap their fingers at him, an office cleaner seals the deal by snapping his finger the 3rd time and Temi loses all his eloquence. He must do all it takes to break the curse and bring in the international merger deal for his company.
A very simple storyline, plot progression was coherent, and they were able to wrap it up logically.
Acting and casting was just there. It seemed like this movie was created specifically for “Lasisi Elenu”, the social media character. Although, it felt like he was doing too much at some point but generally this movie must have been a walk in the park for him because he was just being himself.
The others were just there. I was pained to see the likes of Ireti Doyle, Tina Mba, and Nobert Young play waka pass roles but I guess it is what it is.
Special accolades to Bucci Franklin, he was the most impressive act in the movie, the personality switch was nice to watch. I loved his character in the movie Rattlesnake and he delivered in this one again, so it’s not a fluke, Bucci is a good actor. Looking forward to seeing more of him in movies.
So, was this movie a bad watch? I won’t say that. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but some people would definitely find it funny.
What were the issues I had with this movie?
The story had a good premise but they were unable to build any dramatic momentum. Even the presentation that should have been the big deal and the highlight of the movie was just there. It was very bland.
Character development was not great. Why exactly was Temi so obsessed with people’s grammar? Something must have triggered the inherent inferiority complex that he was trying to cover by sounding all polished. It would have been nice to see even at least one major occurrence from his past responsible for his attitude.
His character was quite inconsistent, sometimes he acted so brash, picking his nose in public and drinking without decorum, and in some other scenes, he maintained his poise. So I was not sure what exactly it was supposed to be, was the curse supposed to affect just his speech or his speech and his manners? Why was it not consistent?
I did not understand Nadine’s character, why was she sounding like a teddy bear? Was she supposed to be a shallow girlfriend? Her character makeup did not match the actions she displayed as the movie progressed. Bimpe’s accent was always fluctuating. Since they were from Ibadan, I would have expected the razz Temi to have an Ibadan accent like his sister but their accents just did not match.
Remember the scene where they went to Ibadan to see Temi’s mother? She saw Temi and screamed “my son, you are welcome”. No illiterate Ibadan mother says that!!!
The character makeup was just generally inconsistent and this was a major flaw.
As for the cleaner who cursed Temi, I’m not sure they thought that part through because since he was an employee, Temi should have been able to locate him easily. The first thing he should have done was to speak to HR but it appears that did not even cross their minds.
Let’s talk about effects and makeup, what was that bald cap on the cleaner’s head??? Even the goiter that appeared around Temi and Bimpe’s necks after drinking the funny substance the herbalist gave them looked so fake.
This movie was supposed to be a comedy, was it actually funny? I guess I laughed like twice but other than that, I did not really find it funny. Too many dry jokes especially from MC lively and Broda shaggi, I cringed so many times.
Some would say the movie was teaching vital lessons about the need to be nice to people, but did it really?
In normal Nigerian parlance, being razz means someone is local, crude and generally not cool. But if someone does not speak English properly does that mean the the person is automatically a razz person? I think this movie unknowingly commits the mistake it was trying to correct by equating poor grammar with being razz.
Overall, The Razz Guy is not a bad movie but it cannot be considered a great movie. This movie seemed like a very long skit, it can even double as a commercial for Kohinoor Lounge because Kohinoor was everywhere.
Rating: 4/10
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