A Naija Christmas

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
A Naija Christmas Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 13+

Brothers compete to find brides; drinking.

PG-13 2021 121 minutes
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that A Naija Christmas is a 2021 Nigerian romantic dramedy about three adult brothers whose mother wants them to marry and give her grandchildren. Each of the men must overcome his own impediment to romantic happiness. A major character spends a great deal of his energy trying to get random women to have sex with him. Three brothers get into a fist fight. A man is beaten up off-screen by a loan shark. Two angry women slap two men. Adults drink alcohol. A woman not used to drinking gets drunk and has a hangover. Language includes "damn, "hell," "piss," and "ass." (In Yoruba with English subtitles, and in English.)

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What's the Story?

Ugo (Kunle Remi) is a player, a con man, the guy with the slick patter who talks women out of their clothes and investors out of their money. He's deep in debt to Tony Torpedo (Lateef Adedimeji), the loan shark who gave him money to keep his recording studio going. Waiting to be paid back, Tony is meanwhile beating Ugo up and helping himself to Ugo's belongings. Ugo's frustrated church-going mom demands that Ugo and his two grown brothers get married and give her grandchildren, offering ownership of the family house to the first one who ties the knot with a proper woman. Ugo, plotting to marry just anyone so he can sell the house and pay off Tony, tries to bring "improper" candidates for his mother's approval, but his mama knows what's up and says no. In desperation, Ugo pursues the chaste church-going Ajike (Segilola Ogidan), someone his mother is sure to approve. But Ajike is no fool and turns him down. Until she doesn't. His brother Obi (Efa Iwara) dates the wrong woman and then finds the right one. The last brother, Chike (Abayomi Alvin), has the same arc.

Is It Any Good?

Many of the actors here are attractive and engaging, and it may be that over-the-top acting is the preferred style in Nigerian movies. That said, overacting dominates the action, making this a tough slog throughout. Credibility is strained as well since most of the characters are presented as cartoons. Ugo is such a conman that it's hard to understand how any woman with a brain would agree to go out with him, yet Ajike, clearly a smart person, hems and haws a bit, but keeps inexplicably saying yes. Worse yet, Ugo, unscrupulous and disrespectful of women, is too unlikable to be keep us interested. An audience that likes and admires Ajike -- and what's not to like -- will not be rooting for Ugo.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the way this repeats the stereotypical image of mothers desperate for their grown sons to marry and produce grandchildren. Do you think the mother here is meant to seem realistic or cartoonish? Why?

  • Since the reason Ugo hasn't settled down with one woman is because he likes having lots of women, do you think he will ever be able to devote himself to a monogamous relationship? Why or why not?

  • Why do you people fall in love with unlikable partners? Why do you think the characters here are unable to see that they are with the wrong people?

Movie Details

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