‘A Trip to Jamaica’ is Not A Movie You Watch Twice

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So I finally got to watch A Trip to Jamaica and it is not a movie I would watch a second time. This is not because it was not a good movie, on the contrary. I laughed, felt bad and left confused. In other words, it took me through the gamut of emotions that a good movie should. I’ll go ahead and talk about it and do my best to avoid spoilers, for those who haven’t watched it yet.

A Trip to Jamaica Plot

Akpos (Ayo Makun) gets engaged to his long time girlfriend, Bola (Funke Akindele) and they take a trip to Atlanta. They stay with Bola’s cousin Abigail (played by Nse Ekpe-Etim). From Atlanta they all travel to Jamaica for a vacation where they get entangled up in the criminal activities of Abigail’s husband.

While there, Akpos meets and falls in love with an island girl and so does Bola. Abigail also gets into a few scrapes of her own.

It is really hard to describe the plot because there was not really much of one. The subplot which involved Abigail’s troubled marriage and her criminal husband’s activities had more depth. It was really difficult to understand just what Akpos and Bola were about. They did not grow or evolve as the movie went on and kept fighting at every point.

 

 

A Trip to Jamaica elicits mixed feelings

On one hand, the cinematography was really good. The pictures were vivid and it was a true cinema experience. The music too was not bad and there were lots of beautiful people and places. That said, the story was just poor. Also, AY did a lot of over-acting. I felt that they might have gotten more out of the movie if someone else had acted AY’s role. There was very little chemistry between the characters and the one sex scene they snuck in (more like a sex audio) was hard to believe because they just didn’t have that sort of chemistry.

 

Nse Ekpe Etim

Nse Ekpe Etim acted the part of Abigail, Bola’s cousin who was married to an American sociopath who was also a criminal. It was my first time seeing her on screen and I was impressed. Hers was more of a tragic character and she really got into character, giving some depth to a movie that was otherwise lacking. I felt she could have had more of an active role though. For someone who was placed there just to ‘look pretty’ (in the movie itself and the character she was playing) I would say that hers was a stellar performance.

 

So would I recommend the movie?

Yes, I actually would. It was good for a few laughs. I paid N700 for it at Filmhouse and I did not feel that it was a waste of money. I wish it was not hyped so much…it is nowhere near the hype. If you throw out the hype and just go to see a nice movie, you will not be too disappointed.