You know, one of us at The Film Blog absolutely insisted that Isoken is formulaic, and nothing special – at all. We shut him down. Not only because we are mostly Jade Osiberu fan boys and girls here, but also because, hey, this is the cool new film of the moment. If you don’t like it, you better be ready to defend yourself.

Well, here is Andrew Oke, whom some people insist is simply the pseudonym for TV director, Chris Ihidero, and he is speaking up for the minority.

Excerpts:

“If you are looking for a by the numbers, zero frills date movie with a lot more rom than com, this is a film that should be right up your alley. There is not much to it, but it is, at the very least, entertaining enough to hold your attention throughout its run-time. For lack of a more appropriate word, what I will say is, Isoken is… OK.”

“A lot of the time, Isoken just goes through the motions and ticks off all the mandatory beats and moments needed to make a film such as this work in an almost robotic and detached fashion, almost like a stock story was picked up and whoever was involved in making the film just had to fill in a few blanks. Matters are not helped by Dakore Akande’s uninspiring performance as Isoken; a role she tackles with the emotional capacity of Microsoft Narrator. Watching her act opposite career mannequin, Joseph Benjamin is draining, to say the least, making the limited time they share together on screen seem like an eternity.”

“Their poor acting and complete lack of chemistry is on full display in this film on many occasions, most notably during Isoken and Osaze’s first date where he talks about himself like he is reading the information from his CV and she engages in conversation in the dullest manner, almost like she is reading her lines off a cue card in the corner. In a very sharp contrast, Marc Rhys brings an energy, honesty and humanity to his role that is so palpable, he forces Dakore Akande to step her game up, making her scenes with him the best in the entire film.”

“Like the rest of Isoken, most of the supporting performances in the film are pretty regular and not all that special.”

We totally heart Dakore, so we can’t bring ourselves to agree with her name and poor acting in same sentence, but the lack of chemistry, going through motions, and stock story? Those are legitimate criticisms.

We have to add though that Rhys acting was certainly not energetic. It was a caricature of actual acting. We didn’t mind too much, because after all it was a comedy.

But, yes, we have to agree that Tina Mba shone here, just like she shone in Okafor’s Law. But as usual, people are not going to notice. And that makes us sad. She deserves all the praise.

And TNS in this one case, for bravery.

And did they just call Benjamin a “career mannequin”? Hey God.

See full review here.