A Sunday Affair is a Nigerian romantic drama movie released on Netflix on 14th February 2023. It is directed by Walter Taylaur and the screenplay for the movie is written by Darrel Bristow-Bovey (known for his work for Inside Story) along with Mo Abudu & Nnegest Likké. Produced by EbonyLife Media, it has a runtime of about 1 hour and 36 minutes
The cast of the film includes acclaimed Nigerian actor Nse Ikpe-Etim who plays Uche, Dakore Egbuson-Akande as Toyin, Oris Erhuero as Sunday, Alexx Ekubo (Weekend Getaway), Uzor Osimpkpa (Fifty), Chris Iheuwa (Rattlesnake) and Hilda Dokubo (Accidental Affair). The story is brought to the screen by cinematographer Malcolm Mclean.
Netflix’s description of the film reads:
Lifelong best friends Uche and Toyin fall for the same complicated man, which tests their loyalty to each other as they face a heartbreaking revelation.
-A Sunday Affair Review Does Not Contain Spoilers-
Set against the backdrop of Lagos, two best friends, Uche and Toyin, fall in love with Sunday, a charming, yet flawed eligible bachelor. A love triangle ensues with the women unaware that they are dating the same man. Meanwhile, Sunday is unable to choose between the two friends, who soon come face to face with an unexpected tragedy.
The film starts off in Lagos in 1999, where we see Uche and Toyin being best of friends since childhood. They are always there for each other and will do anything for them. Carrying on their strong friendship to adulthood, they attend Uche’s sister’s wedding in 2023. There Uche’s set her eyes on a man from the groom’s side, even though he is seen with his wife and daughter.
It doesn’t stop her from pursuing him, as she claims that married men are her type. On the other hand, Toyin is wary of the man and advises the same to her best friend. But fate plays its game and one day Toyin finds herself sitting beside the same man, on a train. He finally introduces himself as Sunday and clears the misunderstanding about being married, as he is getting divorced.
Sunday being the groom’s brother, can’t avoid meeting up with Uche again and that’s how the two-timing with the best friends starts. While he claims to have feelings for both of them, it’s hard to gauge if he is truly sincere or just playing games with them. However, Sunday’s character is not exactly a jerk since he tries to break up with them both – before they bust the secret on their own and start hating on each other instead.
But as we have seen time and again, when one thing is not going in your favour, no matter how much you try – you will only tangle yourself up in more mess. The same thing happens to Sunday, who can’t break up with any of them and continue to pursue, as long as he can. Until the tragedy comes knocking on Toyin’s door – which urges him to make their relationship public, even in front of Uche.
Stuck between moral duty and his feelings, there’s no escape. Although the story plays around the grey area of what’s right or wrong, if we were to pick an antagonist, then it would be Uche for sure. Well, Sunday is a typical cheater who pretends to be innocent but is the root cause of all the problems. On the other hand, Uche had a choice to reveal everything and put her friendship above all, but she chose the prick.
Talking about the storyline, I feel like I have seen this trope where the guy falls in love with a girl and her friend too, but eventually, he realises whom he truly likes. But here the guy is portrayed as just a nice soul who has feelings for everyone and speaking realistically, you will certainly find people like that (they are worst than a typical cheating boyfriend). However, when it comes to an entertaining movie there has to be some development in his character, which was missing.
Summing Up: A Sunday Affair
For the most part, the film runs on the same track of who will be the ultimate couple, until you come to the last 20 minutes – that’s when you get some revelations and twists. Although it’s a quick watch with some talented actors, the film lacked some exciting moments, like Sunday trying to hide his two-timing or getting saved by a hair – the tension and the adrenaline chase of ‘what if’ makes these situations interesting but couldn’t be found here.
Overall, it’s an okayish watch and if we talk about Nollywood in general then the film shows how far the industry has come up. The releases on Netflix so far have been pretty decent and if you are looking to watch some chaotic love triangle situationship, then it should be on your watchlist.
A Sunday Affair is currently streaming on Netflix.