10 Days in Sun City - Review

Thenjiwe Mosley and Miguel Nunez Jr in a scene from 10 Days in Sun City. Picture: Supplied

Thenjiwe Mosley and Miguel Nunez Jr in a scene from 10 Days in Sun City. Picture: Supplied

Published Aug 25, 2017

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Nigeria meets South Africa in this near-fatal adventure to a luxury resort. Much like his previous two films, 30 Days in Atlanta and A Trip To Jamaica, it’s clear actor and executive producer, Ayo Makun, has a thing for work-cations. In this film, he makes his return as the popular character, Akpos.

But this time, he is en route to South Africa, and specifically Sun City. Akpos has a penchant for spotting a diamond in the rough and that’s exactly how he treats his undercover girlfriend, Bianca (played by Adesua Etomi). She dreams of getting out of the Delta hood and away from men who won’t keep their hands to themselves.

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Akpos believes they can get out of the hood and live a life of luxury if Bianca just wins the Queen of Nigeria pageant. So he masquerades as Bianca’s manager and calls in a lot of favours so she can enter the competition - and eventually, she wins.

 

As a part of her prize, she becomes the face of a cosmetics brand headed by Otunba Williams (the charismatic Richard Mofe-Damijo). To fulfil her ambassador duties, Bianca is flown to Sun City - and she insists that her “manager” accompany her - to shoot a campaign for the brand.

That’s when things are meant to take a turn for the hilarious. And while most parts are funny, 10 Days in Sun City is predictable. It’s obvious that Akpos is going to fall for Otunba’s assistant (played by Amanda du Pont) from the moment he teasingly tells her she’s gorgeous right in front of Bianca.

Makun relies heavily on slapstick to get the laughs, but the physical comedy feels exaggerated and limiting. But I guess his attempt at showing more than he tells is deliberate because the pidgin English can be hard to understand. As someone who loves how Nigerians speak, I was a little disappointed in how poorly the subtitles translated what was being said.

Mofe-Damijo is brilliant in his portrayal as a seemingly fatherly businessman, who then turns into a predatory creep. His poise and charm definitely put him into the Dzaddy category right up there with the likes of Shona Ferguson. It’s nice to see a contingent of South African actresses in this film. Celeste Ntuli shows up as a comedy club manager and Thenjiwe Mosley plays a comedian who is dating what is supposed to be a Nigerian guy, although he sounds American (because he is), who defected from Otunba’s security detail.

The guy is Miguel Nunez Jr. Together with Mosley’s character, he tries to help Akpos get his girl back from the clutches of Otunba, with some funny results.

Famous Nigerian faces like Falz and Mercy Johnson also make appearances. Musician TuFace Idibia shows up one too many times - and he’s lip-syncing in every scene.

Speaking of music, the score is quite a strong point. Davido’s If is prominent and there are plenty of Naija tunes to put the viewer in a good mood.

This is Makun’s third adventure movie and, based on the decent attempt in 10 Days in Sun City, I would be keen to see any future films of his.

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