Just in Time is a romantic-comedy movie directed by Dolapo Adeleke and starring Sarah Hassan, Stycie Waweru, Mawuli Gavor and Pierra Makena, alongside other cast members.
At some point in Just in Time, a key character exclaims: “Take care of my child, she’s the only one I got.” And my mind immediately went to, so would it be okay for something to happen to one of your kids if you had more than one? Oh, she’s also shipping her daughter off to her estranged cousin because she needs space after her divorce. The daughter does not know about this.
In a scene just after that, Muthoni leaves her cousin’s young daughter alone in her apartment with a very unknown man and just drives off to find the keys to her neighbour’s apartment which she also lost. Well, when you have adults like these, why would you ever need kids?
Muthoni is the most annoying character ever. And before anyone comes to bash me that she has a character arc, well, I know. But still, there has to be a limit to everything. The first day she berates the girl for using the internet which is normal in today’s time and then, later on, tells her that they should talk instead of her being addicted to her tablet. Her first question though? What is your calling – your purpose in life.
Weirdly, the most likeable character is Ashley, the 11-year-old kid. She’s smart, funny, sassy and, shockingly, has her life sorted. She makes rational arguments and is absolutely great to watch. Additionally, there’s an Indian-origin woman called Aditi who is absolutely insufferable and rude for no reason and wears horrible lashes. She also doesn’t serve much purpose so I’m confused as to why she was included.
The story of Just in Time is quite simple. Muthoni gets Ashley dumped on her after her cousin gets a divorce and needs time to think things through. Muthoni is obviously not at all happy to have the little girl with her, but she starts to warm up to her as time progresses. They also share a surprisingly good bond with their neighbour’s friend Kobena. However, Muthoni’s seemingly perfect life is about to fall to pieces.
Nah, it really doesn’t. Just in Time focuses for a long time on the good times that Ashley and Muthoni share together and how the latter warms up to the idea of having a child around and growing in her life as well. Then there’s suddenly a tiny storm that ruins a few of Muthoni’s plans, which is solved within the next five minutes. It’s a weird whiplash sort of a feeling when everything just falls into the right places without there being a proper path to follow to reach that goal.
However, with that being said, the 91-minutes-long movie is just long enough for you to watch if you’re bored and have nothing better to do. It features good performances especially from Sarah Hassan and Stycie Waweru. Although a few of the other supporting cast were a bit stiff, they don’t feature for too long on-screen to be much of a nuisance. The chemistry between the lead pair is also a bit stiff and awkward which makes their eventual reconciliation hit you right from the left field.
Summing up: Just in Time
Just in Time is a family movie that should be your last choice if you’re really bored. It’s not horrible, especially because of Waweru, but it’s not really anything out of this world for you to positively stream. If you’re going for this for a casual watch it’s probably perfect, but if you have more expectations from this, then be ready to be disappointed.
Just in Time is streaming on Netflix.
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a beautifulovie with a romantic twist. Sarah hassan has found her production axis and she has delivered. watching this space to see her next project.