The opening scene of Play Network Studios’ new film, Glamour Girls is scored in the background with the song, ‘Work’ by Larry Gaga featuring Davido. It has lyrics like ‘Step inna the club; All on my mind was for her to work, work, work; And after six bottles of gin and I still dey go on tour; You know that I gat you boo; I said no running no running; Girl I’m calling your body’.
This is a befitting introduction to the world of Glamour Girls. It’s raunchy, glitzy, and indulgent. Meanwhile, as Davido’s vocals welcome you; Sharon Ooja literally lures you into the world of Glamour Girls with her exotic dance. She’s a stripper.
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By the way, that song is off the soundtrack album of Living in Bondage: Breaking Free. Asides from being produced by the same Charles Okpaleke’s Play Network Studios, both films have a couple of other things in common. They speak about the life of the ultra-rich, and the efforts of the underdogs to not only break in but also fit in. Then they both are remakes of earlier Nollywood blockbusters.
![Poster of the 1994 Blockbuster, Glamour Girls [Image Credit: Wikipedia]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Glamour-Girls.jpg)
Now, to the newer version; the narrative is different but samples tropes from the past to advance the setting of the new film. The girls don’t wait for offers anymore. They lump at it. They are not call girls now. They are high-end escorts. They don’t refer to them as ‘Senior Girls’ anymore. They are now ‘Bad Bitches’.
In one scene, newly inducted Emma asks Tommy played by Taymesan – who gave a convincing performance by the way – , ‘what do you say I am now?’ Tommy yells to her face, ‘a bad bitch!’

The props have also been replaced. Flashy cars, glitzy looks, private jets, exclusive meetings of the high and mighty laced with ample hedonism.
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It’s reinvention and the protagonist, Donna alludes to it. Meanwhile, writer, Kemi Adesoye and Director, Bunmi Ajakaye who directed the series, Smart Money Woman, gave Nse Ikpe-Etim playing Donna, a character that is as complementary to her as she is to it. She’s all fire and feistiness. Remember, this is not the first time she’s doing this on-screen. Still quite sharp in our memory is her depiction of First Lady Jumoke Randle in King of Boys: The Return of the King. Donna isn’t far from Jumoke Randle; strong, vicious, elitist and always scheming. Nonetheless, she plays this again with much delightful conviction.
![Nse Ikpe-Etim playing Donna is all fire and feistiness [Image Credit: Netflix Nigeria]](https://thefilmconversation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/289623224_581657186744848_7129400217380413186_n-300x300.jpg)
And that is the most glorious thing about Glamour Girls. It gets its casting right. Whether its Sharoon Ooja playing a toned down version of her character in Oloture; or Toke Makinwa who is cementing her place in Nollywood one film at a time with high-candy, flossy character or the artsy Segilola Ogidan as the free-spirited Helion or the Ghanaian Joselyn Dumas who captures the dilemma of her character, Jemma who is torn between returning to the life of a Glamour Girl and staying true to the quest of her emotions.
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![Taymesan in a still from Glamour Girls [Image Credit: Netflix Nigeria]](https://thefilmconversation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/289105038_445186124093101_4476769628892561674_n-300x300.jpg)
However, not so much is really going on in this film, really. The glamour is premium. The depiction of corporate sex work is well done. It in fact shines through. A hacker requests for a bout of sex as additional incentive for hacking a flash drive. An interior décor contract is offered as payment for sex. How expensive?! However, the story leads you on like a self-serving partner; thrusting with brewing vigor, then selfishly reaching orgasm before you; hence, ruining your experience of climax. You feel the build-up of tension but it never reaches the crescendo.
Two things could be responsible for this. First is the lack of layers and depth for the film’s characters. Second, I presume is the filmmaker’s deliberate withheld of certain key moments from the film for a sequel. At some point, the husband to Toke Makinwa’s character found out she was cheating on him during a kiddies party. That realization didn’t manifest. Then you get a scene where he throttles to her luxurious boutique with a machete. He opens the door, presumably saw something, drops the machetes and everything went nonplussed.
One of the characters, Temma, whose husband just died, found out something about his new boyfriend Alex and her young son. Next up, Alex is dead and you’re left wondering how and what went down with the son? Molestation? We don’t know. When Toke Makinwa’s Lulu as stylized by her husband yelled at a scene, “the world has gone mad”. You can’t feel the madness. It feels like the acts are alone in it and you can’t emote with them.
![Toke Makinwa in a still from Glamour Girls [Image Credit]](https://thefilmconversation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/289468497_564024975087042_1278544693780939947_n-300x300.jpg)
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Even Sharon Ooja’s character, Emma, who is central to the plot of the film, lacks depth. While seeking to be part of the Glamour Girls, she strips at the centre of an office. The scene screams desperation but with a tone that lacks nuance. What you get is the Nollywood trope of her siblings living in the village abruptly showing up from nowhere to complain about their survival and well, disappearing into thin air thereafter. This denies the characters of moral and emotional compass. Their adventure into corporate sex work seems self-serving and indulgent.
![Even Sharon Ooja’s character, Emma, who is central to the plot of the film, lacks depth [Image Credit: Netflix Nigeria]](https://thefilmconversation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/289164833_565148045067853_2699641390740322508_n-300x300.jpg)
As the Director, Bunmi Ajakaiye edges the film on to its climax, what you’re left with is the huge sigh reminiscent of Kiara Advani’s character’s whose husband had just rushed into orgasm after a few seconds in bed, in the Indian anthology, Lust Stories. The agony is apparent.
![Actors Kiara Advani and Vicky Kaushal in a still from the anthology, Lust Stories [Image Credit: Pop Sugar]](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/rW8X0754ixzui7MsbmMF_g1DUHw/fit-in/1200x630/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-:fill-!white!-/2018/07/26/757/n/1922283/083a450b5b5a00b659fb36.51171971_Lust-Stories/i/Lust-Stories.jpg)
I strongly believe that Play Network Studios has a sequel in the pipeline given the Charles Okpaleke that we know. I however also fear that viewers who had experienced unfulfilled desires in this film might not care so much about a sequel of the same film.
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Glamour Girls is streaming on Netflix.
Writer: Kemi Adesoye
Director: Bunmi Ajakaye
Producer: Abimbola Craig