Director: Akin Tijani Balogun
Producer: Emem Isong Misodi
Cast: Alex Ekubo, Tana Adelana, Adela Elad, Agem Lizzy, Emem D. Ofot, Bobby Obodo, Bolanle Ninalowo
Year: 2017
For some women, menopause defines the decisions they make in life. There are women that do not care if they have a child or not. For some others, as soon as they clock 30, the fear of not having a child begins to create anxiety. With science leveling everything up, and providing alternatives like insemination, surrogacy and egg freezing, it does not stop the panic for some. It is the anxiety for a child that inspires the new film from Royal Arts Academy–Baby Daddy.
Michelle (Tana Adelana) starts off as a happy career woman, but soon she gets desperate to have a child. When she speaks to her boyfriend about it, he is not ready to have a child. So she considers other options, like insemination, and even calls past boyfriends to give them another chance, as long as they are willing to donate their sperm for insemination.
Michelle is not old; she is a young woman, and is thriving with an exceptional job. In the midst of her desperation she goes clubbing, drinks wildly, and returns home to meet the guy in charge of repairs in her house. His name is Daniel (Alex Ekubo). There is a one night stand between the two and she gets pregnant. This creates a bond between them. They start a relationship that does not survive because she is not ready to share with her friends that she is dating the guy in charge of repairs.
Baby Daddy is filled with scenes involving lunch time conversations between the ladies in the film. All they discuss is relationships. The film has moments where every action is purely humorous but not for too long. Alex Ekubo is able to provide us with good humor, if another actor was to handle the role he plays, we doubt we would have sat through the whole film.
Baby Daddy is short, it is 61 minutes long and there are no long dialogues and yet, it is not able to spark the wild interest within that short time.
The costume manager fails the film in one ridiculous scene. In the scene Michelle visits Daniel in his family house, she appears with a pregnancy and we clearly see the prosthetic stomach almost falling out of her dress. The scene is purely amusing and not for the right reason.
Baby Daddy attempts a happily ever after story. The wild and rude boss meets her prince charming and they have a happy ending, we have seen that severally before and Baby Daddy does not offer a different strategy of telling the same story. The film does not offer entertainment; neither does it do anything spectacular. The catch is in the name, and the beauty of Tana Adelana.
Baby Daddy earns a 4/10 from Xplore