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Men’s Code is a Nollywood movie that depicts the romantic life of three men and three ladies who were connected in some way without knowing.
The movie stars Ebele Okaro-Onyiuke, Eddie Watson, Enyinna Nwigwe, Grace-Charis Bassey, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Ramsey Nouah, and Yvonne Okoro, and was directed by Chigozie Onoh.
This movie is a low-budget production. Most of the budget must have gone into paying the big-name actors, who are just old-school Nollywood actors that should be taking the back seat. The picture quality is very poor, much like what Nollywood produced in the late ’90s.
When will Ramsey Nouah stop playing the role of a loverboy or player? The same kind of role he played in the ’90s is what he played in Men’s Code. His acting as Smith was cool, though. However, the dialogue between him and Yvonne on their first date (played by Yvonne Okoro) was robotic, almost as if an AI had suggested the script to the writers. It felt hurried and insincere, as they didn’t wait for one another to finish a sentence before replying with a clever answer, which would have needed a moment of thought to craft.
While Ramsey Nouah was cool, he committed a blunder by looking at the camera in the scene where he and Yvonne shared a kiss. A dude seated beside me at the cinema, who noticed the blunder, said, “Don’t look at the camera, you are a professional.” It was at that moment that I finally concluded that I was watching a low-budget movie. That part ought to have been reshot or edited out in post-production.
Movie review: Men’s Code Directing
The directors did something that turned me off.
Smith was dating Yvonne, who was playing hard to get. Yvonne was also playing hard to get with Maurice, who was Smith’s best friend. Smith and Maurice knew they were chasing a difficult girl, but never knew it was the same girl. In fact, they often complained to each other about the tough time the girl was giving them. After a series of meetings to discuss their relationship issue, a final meeting made them realise that they were dealing with the same girl.
In the real world, when a man narrates his troubling relationship issue to a friend, one of the first things that happens is that the listener requests to see a picture of the much-talked-about lady, especially in today’s smartphone-driven world. That would have solved Smith and Maurice’s problem a long time ago, making them realise that they were dating the same lady. But the directors ignored that lapse and allowed the story to drag on before their realisation. Sadly, the directors portrayed both men as champions of womanising, yet they couldn’t understand that picture rule.
The directors also repeated the same mistake with Yvonne and the lady portrayed by Grace-Charis Bassey, whom I will refer to as Kemi. Maurice has just broken up with Kemi, who was pestering him about marriage. She moves into Yvonne’s apartment, and the scenes they share mostly revolve around them discussing Maurice and how he jilted Kemi. Meanwhile, Maurice is wining and dining with Yvonne, who knows him as Frank, without knowing he is the Maurice who broke her friend’s heart.
Men’s Code – Yvonne
Once again, in the real world, Yvonne would have asked to see photos of Maurice, having heard so many horrible tales about him from her heartbroken friend, who is still obsessed with him. That would have prevented the unnecessary drama that the directors forced upon us. To me, that was weak writing.
Ebele Okaro-Onyiuke’s performance as an Old woman lacked authenticity. When she was introduced in a scene where she attempted to drink a hot cup of tea, her awkward mouth movements made her portrayal less believable. Unfortunately, it did not resonate with me.
Nollywood needs to stop featuring old actors like Ramsey Nouah as bachelors, except in stories where the protagonist is a 40-year-old struggling to get married. Ramsey Nouah is 54 years old, for crying out loud. What’s his business being a Playboy?
Men’s Code is for those who want to while away time by seeing a movie that looks like it was shot in the ’90s. The story is not inspiring. It gets a 5/10.
