Of Bovi, Comedians and Nollywood

(By Oris Aigbokhaevbolo)--Bovi, king of Nigerian comedy, goes to the movies in It’s Her Day

The contest for supremacy in Nigerian comedy has been taken out of stand-up comic performances and into the movies. With It’s Her Day, top comedian Bovi enters the ring.

The Nigerian film industry loves the comedy form. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s frequently foolish.

But foolishness has its uses. The last time somebody put a foolish Nigerian on the big screen, he cashed in so much that his film ended up in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-earning Nollywood film at the box office. That somebody was the comedian Ayo Makun, aka AY, the film was 30 Days in Atlanta. It is a film that irked many but drew many more to the cinemas.

It would be unfair to say that foolishness was that film’s strong point. It wasn’t. AY put an average, albeit silly, Nigerian at the centre of his film. That average Nigerian was called Akpos, and before his cinematic debut, he was the Nigerian everyman in jokes that showed up online. He was often played by the comedian Bovi Ugboma as a clever but clueless character on AY’s comic version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. But when it was time for Akpos’s appearance in Nollywood, AY chose to play the character himself. The rest is Guinness and Nollywood history.

Bovi has proven to be the very best of Nigerian comedians. AY is a lesser talent with better PR and showbiz connections; Basketmouth is now complacent.

Bovi does it best

This background is not necessary to enjoy the film It’s Her Day, but it has some relevance because over the years Bovi has proven to be the very best of Nigerian comedians, even if he is (or acts like he is) not aware of his position. AY is a lesser talent with better PR and showbiz connections. Basketmouth, once the best, is now complacent. The country’s other comedians are mostly more name than quality.

With It’s Her Day, Bovi seeks to re-enact the success of 30 Days. He was the original Akpos; now he can be something else: something he has written himself. Forget the theory that says a director owns a film. Yes, Aniedi Anwah directed It’s Her Day, but when a Nigerian comedian writes and stars, he is the auteur.

Bovi plays Victor, who has just returned with his girlfriend Nicole (Ini Dima-Okojie) from the west. She is a rich girl; he is a guy from a poor family who has made it. This match-up sets the stage for high drama — from which Bovi extracts comedy. He wants to give her the ‘fairy-tale wedding she desires’. His friend Omonigho (Gregory Ojefua) objects but he is told, “The wedding is not going to be as expensive as you think.” Being a Nigerian male who has found himself some wealth, Victor needs to impress. As he says, “I need to let them [Nicole’s family] know say boys dey represent since 1892.”

Clearly, he is overreaching. The bills pile up. And for all of the money he is supposed to have, Victor is not the most stylish individual. His fiancée, by contrast, is luminous and flashy. Her family is filled with bratty siblings, all female. She is a glamour-hound, prone to selfies and seeking to capture each part of her life online. She hates Omonigho, who is fat, bearded and a touch shabby for her family. “He’s ugly and he’s cocky,” they say.

Omonigho hates them back, and takes Victor to Angela, his former girlfriend, played subtly and wonderfully by Omoni Oboli. Angela, with a name that hints at her angelic qualities, is what Nigerians call “wife material.” She diagnoses Victor’s problem. “You are funny, you make people laugh,” she says, but adds that he is “ashamed of [his] background”. This line is uttered so matter-of-factly that one would be forgiven for entertaining the thought that what Bovi has written here is autobiographical, at least psychologically. At the minimum, the comedian can identify with Victor as far as humble beginnings go, and if the film was written in 2004, as Bovi has said, then perhaps he channelled some of his pre-fame experience into the narrative.

It’s Her Day is needed criticism, even if one-sided, of the Nigerian wedding industry. It is also quite funny, sometimes fast, and never quite as foolish as it could have been in the hands of lesser talents.

A triangle of relationships frames the film

No matter. The difference between Oboli’s Angela and Dima-Okojie’s Nicole is one of the three central relationships that frame the film. The other two are between Victor and Nicole, and Victor and Angela.

Although given the least screen time, the Victor/Angela relationship is the best in the film because Bovi meets his equal in Oboli: She is as good an actress here as he is a comedian. It is like giving a master comedian a responsive audience – both feed off each other. The other relationships are played for easy laughs because, of course, the rich girlfriend is exaggerated for effect, to ensure that the audience knows who to root for. There is some sexism at play, considering how bitchy and vain Nicole is – but the balanced portrayal by Oboli helps the film evade some accusations of misogyny. There is also the portrayal of Victor’s Aunty Fowe, who is what you have been told middle-aged women from south-south Nigeria are like: threat-dispensers, stubborn, loyal to family and money-grabbing. The actress Enajite Dede inhabits the character, distracting the viewer from her role’s stereotype. Dima-Okojie is committed but her character is a hyper-spoilt cartoon, leaving her with too little to work with. Her character may have it all within the film but as the actress she is the fall guy.

Nonetheless, the film’s focal point is Bovi. A stand-up comic, his best turn is a monologue delivered to his fiancée. His face, as it moves from resigned to quizzical to pissed off is the star. It was always his weapon as Akpos, along with his quips. His scenes with Oboli are excellent, as were certain episodes of AY’s game show— there is both chemistry and a subdued comedy in their exchange.

It’s Her Day doesn’t always work, and sometimes the writing fails and its comic timing is off. For example, there’s a supposedly clever meta-scene where Victor makes unflattering comments about Bovi’s gift as a comedian, which would have been funny if it was better written. Instead it comes off as mildly irritating. Also, the editing within scenes is often jarring.

But It’s Her Day is much-needed criticism, even if one-sided and pro-male, of the Nigerian wedding industry. It is also quite funny, sometimes fast and never quite as foolish as it could have been in the hands of lesser talents than Bovi, the reigning king of Nigerian comedy.