The only thing worse than a movie that fails to live up to its exciting promise is one that makes you shudder in second-hand embarrassment from its plethora of cringeworthy moments. Indeed, the Devil is a Liar.
Moses Inwang’s latest thriller, which premiered on Netflix on the 15th of August, 2025, boasts a fairly impressive cast which includes the ever-dynamic Nse Ikpe-Etim, who plays the role of the main protagonist, Adaora, and James Gardiner, her younger lover and eventual husband, who plays Jaiye.
Adaora is an accomplished real estate mogul in her late thirties, who must navigate the stark reality of her waning years without the prospect of marriage or children on the horizon, add to that the cruel cynicism of a typical Nigerian stepmother breathing down her neck.
Yet, this reality does not justify the script’s thematic slant when it leans into a familiar trope: an aging female protagonist who readily falls for her first promising romantic prospect; a young and talented fashion designer who seemingly has the world at his feet. Their contrived union will spiral downwards into a cesspit of tragedies, while Adaora must rise from the abyss to reclaim what’s left of her pilfered dignity.
Devil is a Liar is a stark reminder of how far Nollywood still has to go in terms of scriptwriting and plotting. Watching this thriller unfold (if, indeed, we are allowed to call it such), one gets a sense of a watered-down version of Tyler Perry’s Acrimony, void of the latter’s cathartic punch and emotional heft. Both movies center the sacrifices of an aging female protagonist to a ‘dreamer’ husband, but where Taraji Henson’s character excels due to the dynamism and tight script in Acrimony, Nse Ikpe-Etim, no less lacking in emotional range and depth from her impressive oeuvre as an actor, falters irredeemably under the weight of a flat storyline, contrived dialogues and trite one-dimensional archetypes.
The romance between Adaora and Jaiye unfolds as one that is forced and stripped of the natural cadence and realism that ought to provoke emotional resonance.
Their first significant meeting at the boutique, where Jaiye is forward and touchy in helping Adaora pick a dress, despite having met with her just once before, and that impersonally too, foreshadows an over-engineered script where events do not unfold organically.
The dialogue between them, plagued by corny remarks and exaggerated compliments, makes the characters sound more like caricatures than real people. Even plot points subtly inserted to introduce friction and tension, such as the argument between the couple on their way from the hospital where Beatrice (Padita Agu), Nse’s step sister, has just put to bed, climaxes all too suddenly, lacking the necessary dexterity and slow build up needed to achieve the required pay off.
For a movie that runs for two hours, its pacing is incredibly rushed, with timelines not clearly delineated. Jaiye proposes to Adaora within two months of dating her, and they get married with very little on-screen chemistry allowed to truly develop. What is even more implausible is how such a successful business woman is forced into such a naïve and juvenile arrangement, where she cannot spot the glaring ulterior motive, external pressures be damned.
Such is the lazy scriptwriting which leans into recurring Nollywood tropes of the female deceived by the male betrayer, with the all-too-present moral and didactic bent. Adaora’s marriage, childbirth, tragedies, prison time and ultimate face-off, spanning nine years, are compressed within two hours of labored screen time, each plot point rushing into the other without being fully fleshed out, ultimately leaving its audience deeply unsatisfied.
The movie’s technical elements, such as its lighting, score and cinematography are excellent, even if diegetic sounds get frequently muffled. However, the characters are all one-dimensional and, therefore, deliver flat performances.
Anna (Erica Nlewedim) poses as Jaiye’s cousin but unravels as the mastermind who orchestrates his tragedy, a dexterity that is unearned. Nancy Isime and Padita Agu deliver measured performances in secondary roles, with Tina Mba playing a familiar role as a taunting stepmom.
Even the supposed character arc of Adaora after her fall from grace and evolution, into a hardened rogue with a criminal spring in her step and a hoarse voice all feel unnatural, while the gory scenes that besmear the ultimate face-off where she attains a kind of redemption after exacting vengeance hold no emotional weight.
This is a film that fails to live up to its ambitious promise.
1.5/5.
