Movie Review: Wahala in America suffers from many lapses

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“Wahala in America” is a recently released cinematic piece produced and penned by Patrick Onyeke, popularly known as Mr. Patrick, who is a US-based Nigerian actor and comedian.

For a movie whose title carries the popular Nigerian pidgin term ‘wahala’ and the country ‘America’ in one sentence, we had high expectations for it, but then our expectations were not only cut short, but we had the deepest set of drooped shoulders during our departure from the cinema as we were thoroughly disappointed by how boring and egregiously sloppy the movie was.

We could have left but stayed till the end of the movie because we had to give you full feedback, although it was a huge relief when the end credits started rolling in. 

The movie features an ensemble cast involving known and unknown comedians and actors like Uche Jumbo, Ayo Makun, Patrick Onyeke, Bennett Chinedu, popularly known as Acapella, the comedian, Erem Emeka, popularly known as Ajebo, Maleke Moye Idowu, Joshua Peri and DJ Jimmy Jatt among others.

Set in America, the movie follows the escapades of Mr. Patrick, played by Patrick Onyeke, who gets a visa to the United States and gets involved in all forms of mishaps and misadventures until he finds himself in jail, but then one good act and a kidnapped victim who escapes the grasp of her captors thanks to Mr. Patrick will save him from the grey corners of jail after three years. What exactly did Mr. Patrick do? Who did he save that saved him in return? You will have to go to the cinema and find out for yourself if you can patiently stay till the end of the movie.

Directed by Christopher Nkem Okafor and Distributed by Blue Pictures Entertainment, the movie is not only lightweight but also suffers from numerous lapses.

First of all, the movie suffers from a complete lack of character development. We are hit with different characters who show up like the music shoot scene, who are those people and how did he link up with them to shoot a video seeing as he just got in from Nigeria?

In the football argument scene, we are not informed about who they are, his friends, cousins, and neighbors, no details and no story behind their depiction.

It is obvious the movie tries to build on the shoulders of accomplished actors hitting for star power, but its flaws couldn’t help but simmer out.

The characters in the movie fail to deliver make-believe acts. It looks more like they are reciting their lines; a vivid example is the transporter scene with the ladies in black carrying guns; it is so unnatural it is laughable.

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Also, there is the scene where the lady tells Mr. Patrick to count to 500 as they play a game of hide-n-seek, and we see him counting with his eyes closed; counting to 500 with his eyes closed, and then she escapes. C’mon! The movie director or scriptwriter can surely do better than that.

After the back-to-back release of hit Nollywood movies in December, we had high hopes that 2024 movies could only get better from there.

“Wahala in America” is all story and virtually no plot, as it took a while to fully comprehend Mr. Patrick’s journey and the movie’s overall message. Some scenes were so loud we could barely hear the actors’ words as everyone shouted uncoordinated.

The movie’s production team could have done better with the movie’s editing as it wasn’t topnotch; for example, one moment, we see  Mr. Patrick answering the prosecutor’s question with a flashback scene. The next thing we hear is animated laughter; then, the court scene swiftly jumps back in.

The scenes are so disjointed that if someone joins the movie halfway, it will take a while before he can fully grasp what the movie is about. Also, the audio captions in the movie did not accurately capture what the actors were saying. Let’s not even go on about the soundtracks used in the movie.

Moving on to costuming in the movie, we have just one question for the production team, “for a movie that is set in recent times, why exactly was the main character dressed like a 50s village school headmaster with a fro-wig, shorts, and suspenders”?

The costumes of the movie cast overall are great though, especially in the court scene, as we see the Nigerian culture fully displayed through their outfit, gestures, and expressions. The lawyers look good, too, even the unconventional-looking Judge with tattoos and piercings.

Uche Jumbo delivers a stellar performance at the climax of the movie. It is believed that the speech she proffered towards the end gives a vivid explanation about the movie and the plight of Africans when they find themselves in America or other non-African countries and why they choose to endure unimaginable treatments over there rather than being deported back home.

Above all, “Wahala in America” sheds more light on the plight of Africans in America, especially naive ones who go through inhumane or unjust treatment but still choose to stay there as they believe being over there is better than being here in Africa. The scene where the Nigerian embassy rejected Mr. Patrick and willingly handed him over to the US is hilarious.

While the movie didn’t live up to its potential, it still delivers a resounding message. We will also acknowledge the effort that has gone into putting it together. Still, we will not recommend it as it is a total waste of time and money. We will wrap up this review with a statement we’ve boldly repeated: “Not all movies should be in the cinema; there are numerous movie streaming platforms.”