Today, the movie for review is ATM and it is just another sub-standard attempt at comedy in
Nollywood.
“Very dry” is what I found myself repeating in my head as I
endured sequence after sequence of this over hyped super comedy
wanna-be; because it was just that- Very Dry!
And try as hard as he
could, and he did try, but ultimately Francis Odega
just couldn’t pull this one out of the flames; the script was just too
burnt to crisp to be salvaged. ‘ATM’ is a woeful effort, not worth
seeing at premium.
‘ATM’ was billed to be a “Laugh Your Heart Out” comedy flick, but in
actual fact, it feels more like a “Cash Grab” flick with its entire
offering pinned on a washed out gimmick of a white girl speaking broken
English and throwing Nigerian slangs; a gimmick that runs out of steam
and becomes arduously repetitive very quickly, leaving it feeling
unnecessarily stretched and over-used. Bottom-line ‘ATM’ is a one trick
pony that comes off terribly short of making a mark as a comedy to
remember.
And this is quite disappointing because I know Nollywood is capable of making some really bad ass comedies; 2014’s When Love Happens
easily comes to mind, especially as cinema goers have been hit with a
barrage of underwhelming embarrassments lately. In fact, I think
everyone attempting a go at comedy in Nollywood ought to see When Love Happens first, as an essential tutorial on how to make intelligent mature comedy in 21st Century Nollywood.
It really irks me seeing that more and more Nollywood directors and
actors think making a comedy entails actors making funny faces and
acting dumb; Alexx Ekubo in ‘ATM’ and last-week’s ‘Entreat’
has to be a perfect example of this ridiculous perfidy. Comedy for
mature audiences, in this day and age, ought to be serious! It shouldn’t
be about actors making imbecilic faces and falling over themselves in
concert to a background of childish ‘Tom and Jerry’ tunes. It should be
about stringing together relate-able well thought out embarrassingly
outlandish set-piece circumstances which are made funny by their very
nature of being outlandish but relate-able.
PS: I feel I am obligated to admit that several people in the audience
couldn’t stop laughing. So I guess that just goes to show we can’t all
love the same thing. So if cheap and stupid shots are likely to get you
rolling uncontrollably, then by all means, go for ‘ATM’.
Nevertheless, I can’t bring myself to recommend this cus I found it irritating and not funny.
Synopsis: Robinson, a young man in his late twenties believes the only way he can succeed is to travel abroad, gets into online dating and met a white lady, Emilia, and started extorting money from her in pretence that he was going to marry her. Meanwhile, he has a Nigerian girlfriend, Caroline, who has been taking care of him and his uncle, Gbenga. Robinson convinced Caroline to go along with his plan on the agreement that he was going to divorce Emilia after six months, inherit her wealth and marry Caroline. When Emilia arrived Nigeria, Robinson got the shock of his life. (Written by Silverbird Cinemas)
Starring: Alexx Ekubo, Princess Oyinbo, Yvonne Jegede, Francis Odega
Movie review by Cinema Pointer