Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Spoiled man learns a lesson; strong language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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Breaded Life
What's the Story?
Sunmi (Timini Egbugson) is the spoiled, idle 25-year-old son of the wealthy Mommy (Tina Mbs) as BREADED LIFE opens. She wants him to finish school or work or move out. He's outraged at the thought of being forced to do anything useful, citing the big trust fund waiting for him when he turns 32. They fight nonstop, yelling and repeating themselves, until one day, Mommy has him arrested in his own room, claiming he's an intruder she's never seen before. He's released from jail but no one he knows recognizes him until he runs into a bread hawker in the rough part of town. Balancing a trayful of breads on her head, Todowede (Bimbo Ademoye) says she knows him vaguely. Feeling pity but not much patience, she takes him into her one-room "mini-flat," a small space with neither running water nor toilet, and begins the process of teaching him how to live, work, and take care of himself. She gets him a job at a bakery, where he learns skills and what it means to be tired from a tough day's work at the end of the day. Her compassion and decency rub off on him. Soon he displays thoughtfulness, ambition, drive, decency, and loyalty. Just when he begins to make a success of himself, his family reimposes itself into his life and he must cope with who he was and who he has become.
Is It Any Good?
The heart of Breaded Life is in the right place. If you can see your way through the many poorly-directed, over-long scenes, dreadful improvisational dialog full of needless repetitions, and the actors' shared penchant for unnecessarily yelling many of their lines, eventually a movie about decency, responsibility, and the power of love emerges from the chaos for a satisfying if still amateurish ending.
The director-writer seems to believe that every point worth making is worth making multiple times. The transformations of a spoiled, lazy son into an earnest and hard-working one, as well as his shrewish mother's metamorphosis into a loving and forgiving parent, are wildly unconvincing. The movie comes to an oversimplified conclusion akin to Dorothy awakening at the end of The Wizard of Oz to find everyone's transformed, a conclusion that feels dubious at best. But the end has almost sufficient value to make the difficult trip through this movie nearly worth it.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what it would feel like to be totally rejected by one's family. How would you react if your family didn't recognize you?
Does the transformation of the main character feel believable? Why or why not?
One character is especially generous and kind, even though we later learn that in her early life she wasn't treated well herself. What message is the movie sending here?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : June 10, 2022
- Cast : Bimbo Ademoye , Timini Egbugson , MC Lively , Bisola Aiyeola , Tina Mba
- Director : Biodun Stephen
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Black Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Romance
- Run time : 120 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : June 28, 2022
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