Synopsis: After a lifetime of rivalry, two half-sisters find themselves at loggerheads once again when they set up food businesses on the same street.
This comedy was not “comedying”, the war was a joke and the Gbas Gbos lacked any form of sting. Honestly, Battle on Buka Street was not my cup of tea.
What worked?
The storyline was not bad, the setting was good. They were able to convincingly replicate the hustle and bustle of a food market. I liked the fact that Ademide the singer could actually sing and the songs were not bad for an upcoming artist.
Casting and acting worked to a large extent. I liked the fact that the young Nkem Owoh actually looked like him and Bimbo Ademoye was just the perfect person to cast as the younger version of Shola Sobowale.
I must however mention that there was something about Mercy Johnson’s delivery that was off, it seemed like she was overacting, why was she twisting her mouth in that awkward manner (I saw the remnants from her character in the Movie Passport displayed in this movie and i did not appreciate it at all). The biggest issue I had with casting and acting was with the twins, they were extremely annoying. One of them could not even act at all to save her life (the one that said “mummy, daddy said you are a bastard). I did not understand the stick sweet, their hair and the way they were talking. The whole thing looked forced and I felt like pinching them.
I liked the fact that the movie tried to address some important themes such as the japa trend, leaving an abusive marraige, inheriting biases and rivalry and the poor state of the prison system in Nigeria to mention a few…..although it does not say anything insightful about any of these issues.
Issues?
It was too long! I was really bored. This movie had no business being 2hrs long, they could have said everything that needed to be said in 90mins max.
Battle on Buka street is another Nigerian comedy film that follows all the familiar comedy tropes. Unimaginative storytelling, loud and exaggerated mannerisms, jokes that don’t quite hit the mark and weak dialogues. This movie was supposed to be a comedy but I did not find it funny at all.
Another issue I had with this movie was the fact that it was too chaotic. So many things were happening and I was just wondering, all these inside this same movie?
Even though it pretends to be a a socially conscious movie that tried to address several societal issues, a closer look reveals that Battle on Buka street had nothing new or insightful to say about these issues. Even on the issue of sexual harassment, they thought it was okay for a man to take the fall for murder instead of empowering the woman to own her voice and speak for herself. Why was that twist necessary? She was defending herself from a potential rapist for God sake!!
The narrative arcs that defined this movie were not properly executed, most of them seemed very unnecessary.
- Ademide’s police case was a no, the way the whole thing was resolved was very flat. Why was it necessary?
- Yejide’s mountain trek, Awele’s church visit?15mins that should not have happened. So what was the repercussion of the sponge and soap that dropped?
- Yejide’s daughter swaped kerosene with Petrol and could have killed people, what was the repercussion? Nothing! They just moved on like nothing happened.
Read the review of Ijakumo – The Born again stripper here
Let’s talk about the “war” between Yejide and Awele, everything was so unoriginal. Using Rats and Cockroaches, really??? That is something you’d see in a Hollywood movie about teenagers pranking each other. Did you hear grown men in the Buka shouting in English “who put cockroach in my food” i cringed. I was just thinking is this the war??
The fight between Yejide and Awele where they destroyed the entire market space and also destroyed people’s goods did not work for me. Using people’s Rice, Garri and Meat as weapons and nobody complained, they just stood there looking at them, allowing them pour their goods away??? Okay o. Quite unrealistic in my opinion.
The love between Awele and Kareem did not make sense, from where to where? They only spoke like 2 times and next thing he is confessing his feelings. So unnecessary. Being just good neighbours was enough.
The prison escape was not properly thought out. Prisoners escaped, robbed an entire community and there was no police search, no investigation, no arrests? Why include that part in the story when they knew they could not execute it properly?
Yejide just happened to have an abandoned hideout in the forest waiting for the day she’d need to hide her husband? Ok.
Yejide was running a Buka business but she did not even know that she had to pour oil in the pot first in order to make stew?Haba! Her food might not be as great as her mother’s own but she grew up working alongside her mother in that same Buka business, so that was very unrealistic.
This movie tried desperately to excite us by bringing in different ingredients, they only succeeded in creating a chaotic show.
Moving on, makeup and costume was not great. The bruises looked like pink water colour (I’ll put evidence up in my stories later), the pregnancy bulge looked like they wrapped towel and squeezed it under their wrappers. What was that ugly dreads on Akinzo’s head? What was going on with Nkem Owoh’s custard white beards!! Too many rooky mistakes, I couldn’t believe that I was watching a film that Funke Akindele directed.
Finally, I did not like the way the movie ended, it was very underwhelming. Awele’s change of heart, Lanshile’s escape in Kareem’s vehicle (I don’t even know how that happened, did he drive his vehicle inside the bush or Lanshile ran to meet him and no one noticed?) their fake looking bruises and all of them whispering thank you to one another right in front of the angry mob, everything was unexciting, but I guess it was a befitting ending for a movie where so many things did not work. I was just happy the movie was over.
Conclusion
Thanks to the popularity of its two lead actresses, many will applaud this movie, some of you will even say, it’s just cruise and i should try not to “hold the world too tightly to my chest” but as for me, the movie was too flawed and people need to stop making excuses for their faves.
Overall, Battle on Buka Street was not a good watch for me. Despite its big and bustling setup, it was boring and it lacked originality. No punchlines, no outstanding performances or characters, threadbare jokes, inconsistent storytelling and poor directing.
Rating: 4.3/10
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Read the review of Ijakumo – The Born again stripper here
