With screenplay by Karyn Udeh, this movie titled “Hustle Code” is directed by Omoruyi Efosa Emmanuel, produced by Uche Montana & Uchenna Mbunabo and Executively produced by Uche Montana herself (also starring as Zara). Released on the 4th of August, 2025, the drama with a runtime of 2hours 7minutes is now currently streaming on the producer’s YouTube channel with same name.
SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers)
Oghenemena ‘Mena’ (Chinenye Nnebe) & Zara (Uche Montana) are housemates living fake lives. Circumstances would bring Kelly (Phyna Otabor) their way as their lifestyle takes a drastic turn. The changes see unhealthy competition, rivalry, altercations, risks, consequences, regrets and general self reflection.
MY TAKE:
Let’s just say this movie “Hustle Code” is the Gen-Z version of “Pretty Liars” (released in 2014) starring Nse Ikpe-Etim, Funke Akindele and Queen Nwokoye. Although not at par with the hit film in more ways than one, one of the most differences however is the incorporation of the use of social media platforms with regard to the mention of content creation, etc in this one.
The story which is inspired by true events as indicated in the opening scene of the movie, though not new is however different from the rampant lover boy-meets-lover girl trope that seems to have engulfed or taken over our movie industry for the longest.
The plot though shallow is straightforward. The acting is not consistent as about 50% of the actors here did not deliver. This then robbed off on the overall execution. Nonetheless, in the scene where Phyna had the outburst depicting the character of Kelly, naaaaaaah, that was beyond acting, it felt like she was telling a personal story as she embodied the character in that scene.
The constant back and forth the apartment as per location was tiring and the duration of the film which could have been reduced to half the time was equally exhausting. The pacing was super slow so much so that even at a playback speed of 1.5x it still wasn’t as catchy.
Makeup and hair (particularly the braided wig used by Chinenye) are not so impressive either. Speaking of Chinenye, something felt different about her appearance here. Maybe it’s just me though. She’s a phenomenal actress and is built for more. I guess I can’t wait to see her in bigger & more challenging roles.
There are cliches and stereotypes. Did the ladies have to dress shabby with the bubu gowns when they had a turn around? That seemed more like a ridicule to decency rather than its portrayal. Yes there was a strong message passed in the end which is to the effect of the dangers surrounding the fake lifestyle shown here. But haven’t we seen that in a bazillion movies both in the past & present already? True, these things cannot be overemphasised but straight up, the movie lacked originality & authenticity.
While there were some very relatable aspects of the movie like Kelly mocking Zara’s low engagements on Instagram, I find that there were eye roll worthy moments especially when Zara was being humiliated by Pato in the story. Now, not only was that part very far from being realistic, to me, there seemed to have been some miscasting. That role should have been played by another actress.
No disrespect to anyone but Uche Montana playing that character wasn’t believable in that regard. Don’t get me wrong, UM is a fantastic actress but I’ve come to discover over time that she doesn’t exactly suit roles where she’s portrayed as being mistreated or manhandled.
Maybe a more appropriate costuming, wardrobe and makeup would do the trick cos often times, her smooth skin, baby face and general physical appearance betrays the character depicted in my candid opinion. When she played a poor married woman/new mom in her film “Baby Blues” some of the things that worked well were the costuming and makeup. They were realistic and believable.
Another cliche in this film is the anchor on or the theme of a sick parent as the reason behind the frustration & desperation of one of the ladies to go into prostitution. In this film, not only was one of the parents sick, we kept hearing of characters we never saw. Who in the name of this movie is Sarah? She was mentioned once and that’s it.
CONCLUSION:
This is one movie to consider for lack of a better choice. We all have different tastes for and perspectives on movies. Hence, some may find this to be the best thing since agege bread.
Although not very much my cup of tea, one very remarkable take home for me from this movie is the fact that people who lure others into wrong decisions are often not affected by the dangers that accompany the wrong decisions. While Zara & Mena almost lost their lives, Kelly came out unscathed. This is why personally, I have trust issues.
While the story and plot could have worked together for a better outcome, it felt like the project and its ending were rushed and not all that put together. For the slow pacing as per sequencing, lack of depth to the plot, poor storytelling, weak execution and some watery characters cum acting, this didn’t particularly do it for me.
VERDICT: 3.5/10
Thanks for your time!
Have you seen this? What did you think? Please drop your thoughts in the comment box below. Did you know you can also give your rating out of five stars? Oh yes you can!
