FILM REVIEW: Mum Dad Meet Sam (2014), African take on the classic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

The African take on the classic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ which was about a free-thinking white woman, and black doctor John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) and their experience when they become engaged, then travel to San Francisco to meet her parents.

Unlike this classic which was all about racial intorlanace, Mum, Dad, Meet Sam takes a more light hearted look at mixed relationships with an African twist. As the roles are reversed as Sam aka Samantha (Daniella Down) is taken to Nigeria to meet Josiah (Joseph Benjamin) parents. The film plays on the bigtory of the Nigerian parents and the culture clash and of tradditional Nigerian family being confronted with and English Rose.
Mum, Dad, Meet Sam’ gets a lot of the cultural clashes right, such as Sam’s inability to dress appropriately for church or her inability to distinguish between bananas and plantain or referring to Jollof rice as “orange rice”, and most of it is played for laughs

In essence, the film is very likable and there are some decent performances, especially from Afolabi Dasaolu, as Fola, Josiah’s friend and the film’s comic relief.