Your Excellency could have been an amazing political comedy, derisive enough to represent Nigeria’s current political landscape.

I can authoritatively state that some Nollywood movies that made it to Netflix were not well directed. These movies were made with some ridiculous mistakes. These silly mistakes were very obvious that people are making adverse comments about Nollywood movies. These adverse comments would negatively affect the few good directors who are delivering top-notch blockbuster movies.

Funke Akinadele is one of the good actresses and directors in Nollywood. She debuts her film directing skills with the movie “Your Excellency.” “Your Excellency” was well directed with some quality actors who played their role and paid full attention to details.

“Your Excellency” centred on a certain Chief Olalekan Ajadi (Akin Lewis), a presidential aspirant in Nigeria. Chief Olalekan Ajadi is a billionaire businessman, a bumbler and a failed presidential candidate who was obsessed with Donald Trump. Just when his campaign was about to become another disaster, Olalekan was anointed by a major political party. He later became a credible contender through the power of social media.

One thing that stayed true in the movie “Your Excellency” was the love story between Kemi Ajadi (Funke Akindele) and Chief Olalekan Ajadi . Another exciting plotline in the movie was a short conflict between Kemi Ajadi and Ajadi’s first wife, Laide Ajadi(Shafy Bello). Laide returned from London, a week before her husband went to the polls, to demand that she would become the first lady once her husband is elected. All other things that happened in the film were random. 

The most exciting invention in the movie was the dance style introduced by Ajadi. That dance style is super cool.

BAD

As beautiful as “Your Excellency” looks, there were some plot holes in the movie. For instance, there was an election bid that needed to be won, so few of the presidential candidates were paraded on-screen alongside Chief Ajadi. Mr. Idehen (Deyemi Okanlanwon), one of the presidential candidates, was supposed to represent the younger and smarter generation on how to change the country’s political landscape. His ambitions started on a high note but lost its flavour way too soon when the focus of the movie became his love interest. Suffice it to say that the social media antics played in the film ruined his character.

The audience were robbed of what could have been an amazing political comedy, derisive enough to represent Nigeria’s current political landscape. Instead, we got a string of Instagram skit videos, a routine of unnecessary actors and under-developed personalities that watered down the movie contents. These made the movie looks wack.

I had high hopes for the movie from the way I started my reaction above. I thought the film could have made history as one of the best Nollywood movies, but I was disappointed by how it eventually played out.

I will still rate the movie high because it preaches consistency. If one remains consistent in everything one does, it will eventually pay off.

I will rate the movie 8/10.