“Mrs Right Guy”
One will have noticed a new
candour and delight regarding life’s amatory pursuits at the cinema this week.
It is, however, unfortunate for South Africans that this carnal interest should
be taken up on their screens when daytime thermometer readings in Gauteng drop
to 20°C – well below what is considered acceptable in Pretoria, and certainly
not the kinds of temperature at which young men and women are itching to cast
off their clothing. The two films that opened on Friday, the 3rd of
June, that are so keen on the tactile particulars of love seem to have only
that in common, though; their differences are vast and the diversity of cinema
seems just as healthy nowadays as its sexual drive.
The first of the two is a new
South African romcom (the other is Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash, but more about it later), starring Dineo Moeketsi (from e.tv’s Scandal) as the shrew Gugu who was abandoned on her honeymoon by a
ratbag husband and left to settle, by way of menial labour, his massive hotel
bill. The script of Mrs Right Guy, by
Pusetso Thibedi and Cati Weinek, runs us through the usual complaints of men
only wanting one thing from a woman, and women wanting everything else from a
man. Gugu feels that dating is being forced to choose between compromising herself
and alienating all romantic prospects. It’s a sorry state, in short, and Gugu only
exacerbates matters as she tears into the men who hit on her in the street, and
swings at the hopefuls making eyes at her best friend, Anna (Thando Thabethe).
Enter the decent and strapping Joe (Lehasa Moloi), a chicken farmer and
neighbour who helps Gugu by repairing her car, and the polished and cocksure
Dumile (Thapelo Mokoena), the new boss at the advertising firm where Gugu and
Anna work. The discerning reader knows where this script is headed, and could
also plot fairly accurately the route it’ll take to get there without any
further description from me.