Behind the Scenes (2025) Review: Big Heart, Blunt Message

Is Behind the Scenes worth watching?

It depends on what you want from it. Behind the Scenes is a crowd-pleasing Nollywood family drama with a genuinely relatable premise and a commanding lead performance, but it spells out every lesson and shows its hand far too early. Scarlet Gomez and Tobi Bakre give the film real energy, and its portrait of a woman who has become everyone’s safety net clearly struck a chord with audiences. Against that, the glossy, sitcom-bright staging, an obvious twist and a strong streak of moralising make it hard to recommend to anyone outside its core audience.

What is Behind the Scenes about?

Behind the Scenes follows Aderonke Faniran (Scarlet Gomez), a successful real estate entrepreneur who has spent years bankrolling the people around her. Relatives, friends and hangers-on all come to her for money, favours and rescue, and she has always said yes.

When she begins to suspect that her generosity is not being returned, the film tracks her growing unease as old resentments and hidden agendas surface. Aderonke has to work out who in her life is genuine and who has simply been using her. The ensemble includes Tobi Bakre, Uzor Arukwe, Iyabo Ojo and Scarlet Gomez, alongside Funke Akindele herself.

Akindele directs a Nigerian production that runs 144 minutes, and it became the fastest Nollywood film to pass a billion naira at the box office, extending her run of record-setting December releases.

A premise audiences recognise

The film’s greatest strength is its subject. The family member who becomes the unofficial bank, social worker and emergency service for everyone else is a familiar figure in many Nigerian families, and the film taps directly into the resentment and guilt that role creates. Its best scenes capture the small, everyday pressures: the request that cannot be refused, the favour that is never acknowledged, the relative who only calls when something is needed.

Scarlet Gomez holds the film together. She plays Aderonke as confident and capable, with a weariness that deepens as the story goes on, and she makes the character’s slow disillusionment believable even when the script becomes schematic. Tobi Bakre is the other standout, bringing charm and unpredictability to scenes that might otherwise be purely functional.

Glossy staging, obvious turns

The problem is that the film rarely trusts its material or its audience. Interiors are bright, polished and staged like a television sitcom, which drains the drama of texture and makes Aderonke’s world feel more like a showroom than a home. The major twist is telegraphed early, so a good portion of the running time is spent waiting for the character to discover what viewers already suspect.

The script is also given to speeches. Characters explain their motives and the film’s themes in dialogue that sounds written for the back row, and the closing stretch leans hard on moral lessons. Occasional product placement interrupts the flow further.

Too long for its story

At 144 minutes, the film is stretched well beyond what its plot can support. Subplots involving the wider ensemble add colour and some comic relief but little momentum, and several scenes repeat emotional beats that had already landed. A tighter cut would have sharpened both the drama and the humour considerably.

Who should watch Behind the Scenes?

It is best for viewers who enjoy big, emotionally direct Nollywood dramas and family stories that speak plainly about money and obligation, and for fans of Akindele’s popular December releases. Those looking for the more understated filmmaking that has recently won Nigerian cinema festival attention will be disappointed. Budget nearly two and a half hours. The drama runs on arguments, betrayal and emotional confrontation rather than action, and it suits teenagers and adults.

If you want something sharper:

• King of Boys, a far darker and more gripping portrait of a powerful Lagos businesswoman and the people circling her wealth.
• Lionheart, a lighter, gentler Nollywood comedy-drama about family, business and loyalty.

The verdict

Behind the Scenes has a relatable idea, a strong lead in Scarlet Gomez and obvious appeal for audiences who see their own families in it. But its glossy staging, telegraphed twist, heavy moralising and excessive length hold it back, making it a film that works as a communal crowd-pleaser more than as drama.

Rating: 2.9/5