BY IKENNA OBIOHA
EbonyLife Movies, since its unprecedented success with The Wedding Party, takes the huge financing and launching of expensive fanfare for its comedic offerings quite seriously.
Evidently, this method pays off and is seen replicated with their latest effort Chief Daddy. With this film, Director Niyi Akinmolayan scoress his second number one movie in 2018. The movie went on to gross 115.7 million naira in its ten-day run in cinemas.
A tug of authority and caustic envy dunked in reckless verbal altercation often paints the portrait of the polygamous family in most Nollywood films, and Chief Daddy capitalises heavily on this. In fact, the setting or the mere mention of this general idea in a movie’s plot is sensed as a harbinger of chaos.
Hoarding a slew of mistresses and efficiently covering the existence of a crew of children born out of wedlock prior to his death, scriptwriter Bode Asiyanbi conjures a plot exploiting the politics that ensues following their revelation in a twist that is Chief Beecroft’s (Chief Daddy) death, which eventually sets the entire family on a rat race of who gets what from the coffers slyly conditioned by him. This move from beyond the grave forces the family members to feign tentative allegiances just until the the final will is unveiled.
The production is an ambitious move that uses theatrics to match the producer’s past effort. However, categorised into the drama/comedy genre, Chief Daddy fails to strike a balance between both genres. With a flawed script whose actual import is lacking, the director employs a smart strategy to outwit its audience through the quality and capacity of characters that were fashioned to come off as comic. And the film through flits out an appreciable volume of laughter which makes it enjoyable, yet, the story leaves the audience with a sense of being robbed in the end.
Understandably, commerciality is a vital factor to consider when making a movie; noting its market demography that is densely populated with comedy lovers who place value on glamour, a formula is hatched to dazzle with the star power of its actors like Joke Silva and Patience Ozokwor, and by so doing, increased the chances of attracting the average movie goer, hence its well reported success at the box office.
The plot which centres on a family facing loss fails to portray empathy. Although not limited to the drama genre, it disregards the pure emotions that could have punctuated the relationship between members of the family and Chief Beecroft, instead, the news of his death was treated flimsily, as though they had hit a jackpot.
Despite its unimpressive plot, characterisation in Chief Daddy is on par. It saw everyone give their best in terms of acting chops. Most impressive is Joke Silva’s portrayal of the highly irritable Kemi. In her current role, there is a shift in her usual acting projection of mellowness that marks most of her roles in movies.
On a whole, despite its enviable commercial success, Chief Daddy will get little or no applause from a critical audience. It’s an ambitious power project with poor narrative that gives the ‘quickie’ effect.