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By now, Funke Akindele should be used to the terms highest-grossing and award-winning being attributed to her films. From the gritty streets of Omo Ghetto: The Saga (2020) to the comedic chaos of Battle on Buka Street (2022) and the uproarious charm of A Tribe Called Judah (2023), her films have consistently enjoyed commercial success. Well, not all of them. Her previous Prime Video release, She Must Be Obeyed (2023), couldn’t hide its mess behind another highest-grossing label. This, right here, underscores a broader trend; Nollywood’s pervasive mediocrity is starkly evident on streaming platforms where filmmakers hastily wrap up a shoddily crafted project in a promising synopsis and a star-studded cast to lure both streamers and their vast global audience, only for these films—just like Akindele’s Finding Me—to ultimately reveal themselves as all sizzle and no steak.
With Finding Me, I can’t shake off the feeling that this film is like the “unsuccessful” sibling in a high-achieving family, one who, realising they’ll never match their siblings, stops trying altogether upon this realization. Ironically, Akindele’s latest is about self-discovery. Yet, its 120-minute runtime stretches on with a protagonist who barely finds herself until the 110th minute or so. And when she finally does, it’s too convoluted to be taken seriously.
Co-directed by Funke Akindele and Isioma Osaje (JAPA!), Finding Me follows the story of Atinuke Phillips played by Akindele herself, the CEO of Olowo Steel and daughter of the billionaire businessman, Chief Olowo (Dele Odule) as she grapples with losing herself to a loveless marriage and the quest to find herself again and take control of her life. Now, this premise might seem overdone, but it can still work, provided the film crafts a deeply flawed, utterly human protagonist whose journey to self-discovery holds our interest for at least 90 minutes. That time should be enough to build a richly drawn character, providing a thorough insight into why the character is the way she is and the events leading to her moment of self-awakening. These are hardly present in a film with such a lofty title.
Atinuke’s predicaments are perhaps rooted in the men in her life; on one hand is her narcissistic and philandering husband, Kola (Joseph Benjamin) and on the other is her entitled, man-child of an elder brother, Dotun (Femi Adebayo) and their controlling father. She panders to her father, endures her brother’s petulance and indulges her husband’s emotional abuse. Her docility, while grounded in her abiding devotion to Kola, is understandable. In a brilliant version of this film, it would be effective for her transformative journey to finding herself—where the absence of her voice amplifies the power of her eventual awakening.
In order to please Kola and lose weight, Atinuke starts to work out at a gym club. It is there she meets Anthony (Efa Iwara), a driven entrepreneur working two jobs to make ends meet. Anthony looks like he can do with a little finding me himself, too. He believes he has a serious relationship with Ndidi (Omowumi Dada) whereas Ndidi and her family of crooks are merely exploiting his kindness and sympathy to swindle him out of large sums of money. Atinuke begins to find solace in Anthony against her better judgment. Their business partnership soon turns personal, then sexual, and before long, a baby enters the picture. Atinuke’s attempt to pass off the pregnancy as Kola’s spirals out of control. It isn’t until this point that the film picks up steam, unfolding a series of twists and revelations that culminate in a climax that, unfortunately, feels somewhat half-hearted and lacking in impact.
The dynamic between Atinuke and Kola captures the toxicity of intimate relationships and how they can erode one partner’s sense of self-worth. Finding Me, released in this month of women’s celebration, aims to be a feminist exploration of self-love and girl power told through the lens of a wife who wears butt pads and erotic costumes to impress her husband. Instead, it chooses to deflate these heavy themes with a romantic subplot that contradicts the film’s premise.
Atinuke does not need another man, one who is everything Kola is not, to find herself or to heal. Yet, the film stumbles further by framing Atinuke’s journey through a lens that reeks of the male gaze, reducing her empowerment to a new romantic saviour rather than an inner triumph. The socio-cultural commentary—meant to critique pressures on women who want to make their marriage work—gets lost in this contradiction, leaving audiences with a hollow shell of a feminist narrative.
Akindele, as Tinuke, is far from her best in Finding Me. Her performance is neither impressive nor memorable, but she sustains much of the narrative solely through her established goodwill with audiences. Joseph Benjamin, on the other hand, brings a charming and commanding presence that suits his role as the film’s villain. Efa Iwara (The Men’s Club) as Funke Akindele’s love interest is dead on arrival. The chemistry is nonexistent, and their arc feels more like an emotional manipulation of viewers than a genuine narrative development. Femi Adebayo (Seven Doors), in contrast, seems like a more fitting match for Atinuke, though he shines in his role as the feckless elder brother, making the most of his limited screen time. For a star-studded film, Finding Me fails to deliver a single performance that stays with you.
Despite its strong themes of identity, and womanhood, the lines do not stay with you either. The dialogue is often stilted and rambling, and amidst a promising start, the narrative drags on without recovery. At the end, it only leads, as such plotlines must, to an over-the-top conclusion in which good is rewarded and evil is punished. While it is easy to mock and dismiss this film for its lackluster performances and lazy writing, it is also disheartening. Akindele is one of the few Nollywood filmmakers who pours her heart into her craft. Where did that zeal go because surely it is missing in this project.
Finding Me premiered March 16 on Prime Video.
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Side Musings
- I’m not on the side of Kolawole here but before Atinuke wore that sex costume, did she ask herself if those women she saw on her husband’s phone looked like people who needed to lose weight?
- What are the odds that in a city as big as Lagos where people get away with crimes most of the time that Anthony would be caught with the body of a dead girl in his car? I’m assuming the informant called the commissioner of police to conduct a stop and search all over Lagos, no?
- Nollywood filmmakers’ idea of comic relief in a film is the use of certain actors with their character’s exaggerated sense of humour.
- Funke Akindele’s fight scenes are usually theatrical.
- Misandrist is a word men like Kola use on women like Atinuke’s friend, Sarah (Omoni Oboli), women who challenge their inflated ego.
- Why do I feel like Finding Me is a wannabe Mr. and Mrs. And Joseph Benjamin comes back again as Kola to finish up a final assignment on emotional abuse in marriage? L-O-L
- How many more subscribers for this, Prime Video?
