Sugar Rush (2019) Movie Review: Funny, Often Ridiculous, Takes Even For A Comedy

Sugar Rush Movie Cast: 

• Bimbo Ademoye: Bola Sugar
• Bisola Aiyeola: Sola Sugar
• Adesua Etomi-Wellington: Susie Sugar
• Uzor Arukwe: Knight
• Tobi Bakre: Andy
• Mawuli Gavor: Dan
• Laura Ikeji: Laura Ikeji
• Jide Kosoko: Chief Douglas
• Adedimeji Lateef: Kpala
• Omoni Oboli: Mrs. Madueke
• Idowu Phillips: Rhoda Sugar
• Makinwa Toke: Gina
• Banky Wellington: Anikulapo
• Uchemba Williams: Obum

Sugar Rush Movie Director:

Kayode Kasum

Sugar Rush Movie Synopsis:

The Sugar Sisters discover a whopping $800,000. Both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the supposed owners of the money come for them, and they have to team up with unlikely allies in a race against the clock to set things right.

Sugar Rush Full Movie Review:

This movie is unapologetically slapstick comedy from start to finish. But as funny as the dialogue was, much of it was ridiculous and unrealistic even for a comedy.

Sugar Rush opens to three ladies being tortured by the goons of a lady we later know to be Gina (Toke Makinwa), and in the questioning, we learn that $1m is missing. The ladies being questioned claim that they saw only $800,000. We are then taken on a flash back journey through the last few days to find out what happened.

Let me state here that the movie left a lot of loose threads. The stories and actions did not connect, the comedy was tongue in cheek, and there was a lot of inappropriately timed punch lines in scenes when seriousness was required, even in an action comedy.

The Sugar sisters, Bola Sugar (Bimbo Ademoye), Sola Sugar (Bisola Aiyeola), and Susie Sugar (Adesua Etomi-Wellington), accidentally discover $800,000 in the house of Chief Douglas, a corrupt man. This was not before we saw the sisters in their homes struggling with different things.

Susie was totally preoccupied with getting funds to get treatment for their mother’s cancer, and she was ready to get it, by hook or crook. Sola just wanted to live large on money she had not earned, and we saw her conduct a funny con, inserting herself in the presence of a wealthy man, after being tipped off by a hotel cleaner, and making up stories about a recent heartbreak.  It was a funny scene, and the cleaner was apparently on her payroll, the little that there was. The youngest sister, Bola, just wanted to live a fake life on Instagram, claiming to have what the family did not have just for clout.

In the next few of days, they start to spend money like there was no tomorrow. They bought a new house and lied to their mum that it was a house sitting assignment. They shopped for cars, and designer clothes and accessories. It was obvious they had never seen such a huge amount before and clearly did not know how to handle the sudden wealth.

While Susie was out to arrange for how to get their mother treatment in the UK, Sola and Bola decided to throw a party, and that was when their troubles began.  The news got to the EFCC, who presented a search warrant to the Sugar sisters to gain access to the house, but weren’t able to find any money there. The sisters got back from the interrogation by EFCC to meet their mother held hostage by the mafia, who had come to claim the stake of the money.

Unknown to them, Andy, Sola’s boyfriend, had already stolen the money. Unfortunately, as they were trying to get the money back from him, he lost his life and the money was stolen by someone else. Then the two EFCC operatives, who had the assignment to conduct surveillance on Chief Douglas, also kidnapped the sisters because the video they recorded got missing in their care. We will see the reason later, as the head of the EFCC is part of the mafia.

Gina, the head of one of the mafias, sent her men to abduct the Sugar sisters and coerce them to stealing more money from “The White Lion”, Anikulapo, a notorious man known for having most of Nigeria’s asset. Who was also Gina’s husband. This was where the story started before we were given the back story.  So the Sugar sisters teamed up with some EFCC officials and successfully stole the money. The robbery was executed at a party organized by Anikulapo, and the party was a cover to move large sums of money.

Gina met them at the hideout to ask for her money. There she met the head of EFCC, who admitted that she killed Chief Douglas because the money was meant to be hers. Anikulapo caught up with them there and demanded for his money. Expectedly, things got heated up and there was a shootout. Gina lost her life in the process. Luckily, the Sugar sisters and EFCC officials were able to escape with the money.

However, Anikulapo caught up with them, took the money and demanded that they be executed in a fire. Agaiin, they were able to escape with the help of Bola and Sola sugar. It then ended in a scene where Anikulapo found out the money was incomplete and fake. The Sugar sisters and their mother left their house and traveled out of the country. And we suppose they lived happily ever after.

Questions, Questions, and more questions

The torture scene was more comedic than painful. If the movie was trying to pattern itself after American action comedies, it must be the ones shot in the late 70s and 80s, because that was what we were sold. We see people having no injuries from so much action and violence. The sisters went through so much in a day, yet, their make up remained almost flawless. They had been through multiple arrests, tied up, tortured, yet nary a breakout of sweat.

As a matter of fact, I have more questions than answers for the movie. Susie, the first child seemed to be the only one working to get funds for their mum’s treatment. The other two sisters just wanted to have fun. How does that portray the kind of family dynamics we have in Nigeria?

Uchemba, who acted as John in Merry Men 2, was cast as Obum here, still acting his stereotypical role in an idiotic and irritating manner. It appears he has been typecast for such roles. I’m surprised they put a character like Obum in law enforcement. It flies in the face of having the right image for a law enforcement organization.

How are you invited to a party, see the house in darkness, and enter the dark house? How is Sola so money conscious that she focuses on the money more than the dead bodies strewn all over the place – and in a dark house?  The time lapse was really a challenge, everything happening within a few days, and you wonder if things truly happen that fast, in Nigeria, too.

How did Sola find a hiding place so fast within a day of moving into the new house, a day she spent mostly partying?  How did EFCC just show up the day after they party, without any hint of prior surveillance? Were they already watching the house? How did they get a search warrant so fast?

Why did the EFCC boss slap that document out of the hand of her subordinate? It was uncalled for.

The scene of Andy’s death was not properly executed.  How come no crowd gathered after someone was hit by a bus? It was totally unbelievable, because the movie was set in Lagos. It was unrealistic to show a vehicle hit someone, and the ladies were able to leave the scene after having spent some time with the dying man. Not in Lagos!

As much as I love Bimbo Ademoye, her role as Bola in the movie, the last of the three sisters, was sometimes grating, only trumped by Obum, the knucklehead EFCC operative. She overdid the role of the spoilt brat, who always spoke out of turn, even in serious life threatening situations.

If the movie had not been incredulous before now, the party made it even more so. How Susie and the others infiltrated the party of such a powerful man left much to be desired.  The way they joined the dance troupe was totally unbelievable. The combination of jazz and technology was hilarious, and not in a good way. Almost ridiculous. The movie ought to have picked a struggle – jazz or technology – and followed it to a logical conclusion.

How could Bola and Obum see the supposed invisible man? Was it due to them being high on Shisha? Does Shisha confer supernatural vision? The statement, ‘You might want to sit down’, made by Susie in a hostage situation, right outside in the dark was not funny. It was definitely not necessary in the situation.

The money exchange scene was totally unbelievable. We witness a massive gunfight and yet, we are to believe that just one of the main actors got killed and another got injured, while the men having the heavy guns were the ones who died?

I had to watch the movie twice to be able to write this review, because there was little to truly hold on to in the movie, except for its being a big budget production.

NollyRated Score: Sub-Par Movie (2/5)

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