Married but Living Single

Starring: Joke Silva, Joseph Benjamin, Funke Akindele, Femi Brainard, Tina Mba, Kiki Cornely

Plot

The movie basically follows the lives of two couples:

Kate and Mike:

Kate (Funke) is the career driven wife of Mike Iheagwam (Joseph Benjamin) and the creative director if an advertising agency - her boss, Mrs. Ibru, is played by Joke Silva. Kate fancies her job more than her family, she has no time for her husband or their only child and daughter, Mabel. Mrs. Ibru doesn't even help matters as she constantly dangles all these promotional goodies which Kate is unable to resist. As the plot thickens, we find out Mike is sick and needs some life-altering surgery in India but his ever busy wife could  not travel with her husband for this life or death operation. the husband travels on his own and meets Titi Haastrup in India. Titi stood by his side throughout the operation and became his rock in India and of course they develop this friendship/affair. When he gets back to Nigeria with Titi by his side, we find out that not only is she Kate's nemesis in the marital home, she is also her nemesis in the job front as Titi is a top employee in a competing adverting firm.

Patrick and Lola

Patrick (Kalejaiye Adeboye Paul) is an abusive husband who embarrasses  degrades and beats up his wife Lola every chance he gets and eventually beats her to death.

!!! Spoilers Ahead !!!

Pros:

The movie shed light on domestic abuse and wife battery, to that I give them a round of applause.
Also, it also brings to light the inevitable dilemma the society today has in regards to career women vs. home maker.
The acting was good in regards to Joseph Benjamin as Mike and Kiki as Titi. 

Cons:
KAP as Patrick was a horrible actor. Even in his wife's funeral, I couldn't decide if her was crying or trying hard not to laugh. Shaa he provided some form of comic relief.
Funke should just stick to comedy, her trying to act as a sexy working class lady and trying to speak proper/phonetics was not too forgiving IMO.
Oh Lord, how can I forget - the advertisement in this movie was cracking me up! Yes we get it, these are your sponsors but come on! they couldn't have had better product placements??? seriously???
To draw home my latter point (spoiler alert) there is a scene where Mabel  (she is 10yrs old ooo) talks so confidently about two drugs that she says cured her cough and malaria overnight. Apart from the ever obvious case of how does a 10-year old know so much about the drugs; there is the main question begging to be freed from my lips: why is a 10-year old child the one handling and promoting drugs?? For crying out loud, drugs are to be kept out of reach of children - ah ah! (yes that's the pharmacist in me talking)

My humble opinion:

Case 1: Domestic abuse! Women know your WORTH! No man (or woman) should ever, EVER make you feel less than you are worth. If your spouse hits you, get the fuck out because it will happen again! Do not tolerate such rubbish! I know some people remain in such relationships "because of the children" but my question is, when he finally succeeds in beating you to death, who will cater to those children? who? Please, know when to get out. Yes, the marital vows says "for better or for worse until death do you part" but (for the Christians), show me where this particular vow is written in the bible. Where in the bible does it say to stay married to a man until he beats you to death? where? where?

'two would become one flesh.'(Mark 10:8) 

'wife is bound to her husband during all the time her husband is alive.' (1 Corinthians 7:39)

"...a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)

I am not in any means a pastor, or the most holy person - but I believe that in the above verses God was referring to the sanctity of marriage, the faithfulness part, the honoring part. A man that abuses his wife (or vice versa b/c some women are abusive to their husbands) has broken the sanctity of marriage. He/she has dishonored the marriage and the bible I read, also clearly states: 

'If there is a part of your body that is so sick or damaged that keeping it is a threat or jeopardy to your well being and life .... then cut it off or pluck it out! '(Matthew 5:27-32)

since by marriage a man and woman become one flesh, my advice (and thankfully God's advice as well) to anybody in an abusive relationship is this - cut off that flesh and run for your life! Whether you are a christian or not, divide that flesh right back into two and get out with your head held high. Only you can own your life! 

Case 2: Career woman vs. home maker! My question is why can't a woman be both? Granted not every woman is career driven and in the same forth not every non-career driven woman is a good home maker. I honestly believe people should have a discussion (a thorough discussion) with prospective spouses before they head to the alter. Also, do not marry someone in hopes that you can change them. Know that in 80% of the cases, what you marry is what you get. If you marry a career-driven woman do not suddenly expect her to turn around and abandon her career to become a stay at home mother/wife. For the women, know what you truly want before and after you have a family. Is your career more important than your family? Then please remain single (or else of course you find a man that is okay with that). Again, I ask: why can't we be both? I believe there is a balance somewhere and once we find that balance, we should try to maintain it. All we pray for is for a supportive and understanding spouse who would be there as we try to find and maintain this balance.

Sorry for my rants, I just couldn't help myself. Anyway back to the movie:

Recommended?

Yes because of the pros listed above. No, because the movie was long, only a few of the actors did a good job and honestly, I left the cinema before the movie completely finished (so I don't even know the very last ending - though I can take an accurately wide guess). So it's up to you guys really.

Links:

I saw this in theaters when I went to Nigeria. I haven't been able to find any online links unfortunately. So for those who have seen it or have a way of seeing it, drop a comment and let me know your thoughts.

~Yv❤