The Wedding Party 2

The first part was a party and the second part is like a vacation that most of us cannot afford.

The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai is the second installment of the ELFIKE Collective produced movie “The Wedding Party” from 2016. In this part, the first son of the Onwuka family – Nonso Onwuka (played by Enyinna Nwigwe) – accidentally proposes to Deadre (played by Daniella Down) – the Caucasian friend from the wedding – and the family goes ahead to plan a wedding for them in tow.

There are a lot of similarities between this movie and the first (and possibly the third because you and I already know that there is a high chance of it happening and we already know exactly how it’s going to go down). Like the first movie this is also about a wedding. Like the first movie the same cast members are back with one new main addition – Patience Ozokwor. Like the first movie, this one reeks of opulence and leaves no stone unturned to achieve this feeling. And like the first movie this is less of a movie with a storyline and more of flashiness on display.

At the end of the movie, I found myself in the middle of that “what did I just watch” phenomena. What’s that you may ask? That’s the phenomena when you spend time watching something from start to finish and the time passes quickly but by the time the end credits roll along you realize that you don’t actually remember the fabric of what you’ve just watched. Yes, of course, I just saw a pretty outfit, but wait a minute was it cotton? Polyester? Was it Nylon? Was it even an outfit or just jewels tacked on to someone’s skin? You flash. You Awe. You Forget.

As far as acting goes, the movie required none so most of the actors didn’t bother with it. Asides from the usual eccentrics required not much else was to be seen here. Daniella Down, on the other hand, was one of the few in this movie who attempts some nuances in the sparse number of scenes that allow it. Otherwise, the next best performer is Niyi Akinmolayan and the entire team behind the photography. Akinmolayan is the director behind TWP2 and his camera seemed to be performing right alongside the actors in this one. The sequel has a lot less overtly opulent shots than the original movie. One can hardly tell whether its just the difference between directors or because every location in this movie is opulent therefore not much needs to be done to reveal that. One of my personal favorite scenes that brought it all together was in the home of the Winston’s as Deadre tells her parents of her engagement and she and her father and mother, alongside the camera do this dance around the house without skipping a beat. It was beautiful. Not all the shots worked though, like the club scene and the interaction between Rosie and Dozie right before Dunni walks in. You see what they aim for but it doesn’t quite work out.

At the end of this film there is an unshakeable feeling that a majority of the film got left behind on the chopping board. Otherwise it is difficult to explain why a key scene like the confrontation between Deadre and Nonso was compressed to a few glances, some intense music and a walking out. It baffles me how scenes that move the story forward like that are not prioritized yet Harrison’s character is given as much time as possible to carry on the unfunny charade that he does in that house engagement scene.

Since we are on the matter, let’s talk about the story within TWP2. Coming from the first movie, I had only one expectation of this movie. The expectation was to have ‘fun’ while watching it but that too was robbed from me by various components of this film. Components like the humor they attempt to insert with Mr. Winston’s character that just ends up as a caricature, the quick progression of emotions without rhyme or reason in this film. The scenes move from laughter to drama to sorrow and they expect the audience to just ‘feel’ accordingly on command simply because they insert some dramatic music. No emotions are worked up to instead they quickly come and go like a PowerPoint presentation.

It’s almost sad that the bigger budget of the two movies turned out to be the less entertaining version. Because devoid of content as part one was, at least it was fun to watch. I’m raising a glass to the ELFIKE Collective though – here’s hoping that the storyline between Yemisi and Shola in part 3 finds some grounding and actual content. Lol, who am I kidding? Just bring back the fun and I’ll be grateful for that alone.

The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai