‘Before Valentine’s’ Is a Mishmash of Stars in Love’s Drama

If you are a “preacher” of cheesy love affairs, you might want to jump on the Before Valentine’s train as it takes viewers on a journey of four hairdressers who have made big plans for Valentine’s Day and…well, kept their plans in castles in the air.

The film is set in a salon in Lagos. The day before Valentine’s. “Chaos is come again!”

His cuteness, Shawn Faqua, plays a star-crossed lover and a torchbearer of unrequited love towards “Sugar” (Uche Nwaefuna), who is one of the hairdressers in this salon.

There’s no stopping him as he goes all out, defying shame and even the fear of joblessness, to convince “Sugar”, who is unimpressed, to be his Valentine. Does he succeed? Sorry, no spoiler alert. Therefore, you must find out.

This movie does a pretty good job at depicting the crazed preparations many people make on Valentine’s eve, hassling for “special treatment” and the “baby girl lifestyle” but that’s just about it.

It seemed like the writers were more focused on the appeal of a star-studded feel and this didn’t go so well. Some of the characters would have been better in the background as extras, giving life to the movie without saying or doing too much.

Speaking of the cast. Why is Doctor Sid in this movie? Guess what, we are still wondering. He was there and then he was gone. Again, star-studded feel. And the scene where Sugar sings to him? That was unnecessary and should never happen again because it was poorly executed.

Baaj Adebule was also just there. His character had no substance as did Venita Akpofure’s character.

Ngozi Nwosu was Ngozi Nwosu: always the “mama.”

Another question is “Why did Shaffy Bello ever walk into that Salon? And DJ Sosa? Nollywood needs to have some mercy on us.

The only thing that made some serious sense was the little affair between Jason and Veronica. The young characters did a great job at portraying puppy love and the awkwardness that comes with it. Also, Jason’s hair is to die for. That was a good one.

Even though this movie had a great cast and could have done a better job with that, the characters hardly had any serious scenes. They just seemed to each do a line until they finished the script like a Friday rehearsal of a primary school drama or like they did it for charity.

The makeup crew came correct though and their wardrobes gave what they were supposed to give. The characters had beautiful hair and their dresses were fabulous Kudos to them.

So, if you do not mind a regular romcom, you should see Before Valentine’s. You do not need to be Sherlock Holmes to watch the movie.

However, if you’re looking for something “deep” to spur you to podcast worthy think pieces, dig elsewhere because this is simply not the place. It is simply to while away time.

Release Date: February 11, 2022

Run time: 1 h 51 min

Streaming Service: Netflix

Director: Michelle Bello

Writers: Nicolette Ndigwe, Diche Enunwa, Temitope Bolade Akinbode    

Cast:  Shawn Faqua, Meg. Otanwa, Uche Montana, Teddy A, Ngozi Nwosu, Elozonam Ogbolu, Baaj Adebule, Inem King, Venita Akpofure, Ben Touitou, Bolaji Ogunmola, Yvonne Jegede, Clinton Chekwube, Bolanle Ninalowo, Angel Unigwe