A WIFE FOR JOHNNY is a movie about three people: Usher, Mimi and Johnny. Mimi is a woman Johnny’s mother, Agnes brought from the village for him to marry while Usher is his cousin. 

Plot

Since Johnny can’t be around for the wedding because he lives abroad, he asks Usher to stand in for him. Mimi is married to Usher on behalf of Johnny and she moves into Johnny’s home where Usher lives. 

Usher is a chill guy with a girlfriend named Lyna. Lyna isn’t happy about the presence of Mimi in the house because Mimi is a “local girl from the village”. Lyna also drains Usher of money, constantly billing him for her needs. 

Mimi finds out how much Usher spends on Lyna and is annoyed on his behalf. She advises Usher to stop giving Lyna so much money. Lyna still hating on Mimi, chooses a random day to assert her dominance by demanding that Usher throw Mimi out of the house. Usher refuses.

More like, he can’t because Mimi is married to Johnny and since Johnny owns the house, Mimi owns the house. Lyna gets angry and leaves. 

Also, the more time Usher spends with Mimi, the more he falls for her but he can’t do anything because she is his cousin’s wife. 

Johnny returns from abroad to be with his “Nigerian wife” but his white wife lets him know that she knows why he went to Nigeria. She then says she would be filing for a divorce and taking everything away from him. 

Johnny is upset by this news and immediately swings into action by letting Mimi know the truth. He is a married man with three kids and he only married Mimi because his mother wanted him to. 

Johnny goes back abroad and Mimi is shattered. Usher tries to uplift her spirit but Mimi resigns within herself that she is returning to the village. Usher tries to convince her not to go but Mimi refuses.

So on the night before her departure, Usher gets drunk and pours his heart out to her. He is in love with Mimi and he doesn’t want her to go. 

He also calls her his wife because she was married to him, not his cousin. He was the one present at the wedding as the groom. 

Mimi is shocked but doesn’t think it is the best thing to do. Agnes returns from the village and tells Mimi that she gives Mimi her blessing to pursue things with Usher. Agnes says she loves Mimi and wants her to be a part of her family. 

In the end, Mimi confesses her feelings for Usher. 

Thoughts

These parlour Nollywood movies need to do more. I think we deserve more than they give us these days. Even if they don’t want to leave their parlour, they can give us the illusion that there is more to the characters. 

Take Usher for example: can someone tell me what he did for a living?

This man was doling out millions of naira weekly to Lyna but we never knew what he did for a living. Maybe if they showed him dressed up and going to work, he would have been a real character. 

The love Usher began to have for Mimi, when did it start?

How did it happen?  Even the love Mimi said she had for Usher, from where to where? I am asking because their so-called love had no passion; no attraction; no longing and no mirroring. Neither of the actors behaved like their characters fancied each other. 

Bring back well-written characters to Nollywood.

We need these characters to live full lives so that we can care about them. Give them:

• Jobs
• Well-written friendships (cue Games Women Play had very well-written friendships)
• Hobbies – allow the characters to go out and socialise or make them have house parties with friends since una like una parlour too much.

Write better love stories.

Make us care about these characters’ love stories. Make the characters attracted to each other. Oga Director and DOP, please film these characters in a way that shows they are falling in love. Zoom in on their faces when they are looking at their love interests lips or body. Show them touch each other or mirror each other.

MAKE US CARE!!!!

Please, I am begging you.

Verdict

This movie is a ⭐ out of 10 stars for me. It was very hollow.

Cast and Crew

Cast

Ebele Okaro as Agnes Ray Emodi as Usher Sonia Uche as Mimi Elochukwu Godwin as Johnny Miracle C Peters as Lyna

Crew

Directed by Ubachukwu Kenney Director of Photography by Emeka Ezemoney & Joseph Okoroafor Edited by Collins Nweze Sound by Samuel Monday Release date September 29, 2024 Distributed by Nolly Family TV Running Time 97 minutes

Watch “A Wife for Johnny”