Dakore Egbuson-Akande
Toyin
Overview
Two best friends, Uche and Toyin, fall in love with Sunday, a charming, yet flawed eligible bachelor. A love triangle ensues with the women unaware that they are dating the same man.
Cast
Reviews
4 min readThe Glossy Trap of Wanting What Hurts You
I kept waiting for A Sunday Affair to surprise me. Not in the way a twist ending does—though there is one, and it’s exactly as telegraphed as the rest of the film—but in the way a story can suddenly reveal itself as something more than the sum of its parts. Instead, what I got was a love triangle so predictable it felt like a dare: How many times can we make the audience sigh before they give up? The answer, it turns out, is about 96 minutes.
That’s not to say the film is without its pleasures. There’s a certain guilty thrill in watching two brilliant actresses—Nse Ikpe-Etim and Dakore Egbuson-Akande—navigate a script that asks them to do little more than react to the same man’s bad decisions. Their friendship, the film’s one genuinely compelling thread, crackles with a chemistry that makes you wish the camera would linger on them longer, just talking, just being.
But the film is too busy chasing its own contrivances to notice.
The setup is simple: Uche and Toyin, best friends since childhood, both fall for Sunday, a charming but deeply flawed man who seems incapable of fidelity—or, frankly, basic self-awareness. The film frames him as a romantic lead, but he’s really just a walking red flag with a nice smile. Oris Erhuero plays him with a kind of smarmy charisma, but the script never gives him a moment of introspection.
He’s a man who cheats, lies, and then acts wounded when his lies catch up with him. It’s infuriating to watch, and not in the way the film seems to intend.
What’s most frustrating is how A Sunday Affair squanders its own potential. The Lagos setting is lush and vibrant, the kind of world where every outfit feels like a statement and every location drips with aspirational glamour. But the film’s visual style—all sleek surfaces and golden-hour lighting—feels at odds with its messy, often clumsy storytelling.
Audience Opinions
Audience 4.6/10
"A glossy but uneven Lagos love triangle where strong actresses and friendship themes clash with a messy, predictable script."
The connection between Uche and Toyin comes through as the emotional anchor, and several viewers single out Nse Ikpe-Etim and Dakore Egbuson-Akande as the reason to watch. latestnetflix.com's read is that at the same time, the story is widely called messy and easy to predict, with the cheating male lead and a contrived final stretch undermining the emotional payoff despite some stylish visuals and a few juicy dramatic turns.
What viewers praise
- Compelling lead actresses Nse Ikpe-Etim and Dakore Egbuson-Akande receive praise for grounding the drama, with some ratings given almost entirely for their performances.
- Strong female friendship The bond between Uche and Toyin, and the way it ultimately outweighs their relationship drama, is appreciated as the most heartfelt element.
- Stylish and glossy look Glamorous Lagos settings and eye-catching outfits, including Toyin’s sparkly wardrobe, add a sleek, enjoyable surface to the film.
Common complaints
- Predictable love triangle The story follows a familiar cheating-man triangle, including the illness twist, and several viewers note that key turns are easy to call early on.
- Chaotic tone and structure The film is repeatedly described as messy, with uneven pacing and emotional beats that do not fully land.
- Frustrating male lead Sunday’s infidelity and inability to control himself or commit make him hard to root for and turn the romance into a source of irritation.
- Low overall satisfaction A noticeable chunk of viewers dismiss it as trashy or one of the weaker titles of its year, even when admitting it is still somewhat juicy to watch.
Recommended for
Nollywood romance completists Love triangle melodrama watchers Stories about female friendship Modern Lagos relationship dramas
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsMo Abudu sat on this Lagos triangle for nearly ten years
Valentine's Day 2023 was the landing pad, not the start. Mo Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife Media and executive producer, told Variety the idea had been "playing around in my head for nearly ten years." Netflix put A Sunday Affair on the service on February 14. latestnetflix.com's view is that Two days earlier EbonyLife hosted a Lagos world premiere as a Valentine event with Moet and Chandon as a partner.
The plot they sold is blunt. Lifelong friends Uche and Toyin both fall for Sunday, a charming and already messy bachelor, without knowing they share him. Nse Ikpe-Etim plays Uche. Dakore Egbuson-Akande plays Toyin. Oris Erhuero plays Sunday. Walter Taylaur directed. Variety listed Darrel Bristow-Bovey on the script. Wikipedia also credits Nnegest Likke. The film runs 96 minutes in English, staged as a Lagos story rather than a London import. , 
The trailer already spilled the illness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7cnzv1zdPg
Channels Television flagged what the January 25 official trailer actually does. It does not only tease two secret romances. It shows Toyin's cancer fight. That is the twist marketing chose to leak. BellaNaija walked the same beat. The AfricaOnNetflix clip puts the dilemma on a title card. Sunday's problem on camera is not "will they find out." It is who he chooses while one of them is sick. , ,
Abudu hoped viewers would treat it as an "evergreen classic" and watch it again. Heidi Uys, EbonyLife's creative producer, said the company had talked at length about whether a person can love two people equally. She said the film gives "it's complicated" a new meaning. Decider critic John Serba was colder. He called the triangle lukewarm soap and said Nollywood regulars might hit play while everyone else should scroll past. He still liked the friendship between Ikpe-Etim and Egbuson-Akande. In his recap Toyin says the quiet part out loud. "I like my men married. Much less hassle." ,
Blood Sisters paid for the Valentine slot.
Netflix already had a multi-title deal with EbonyLife. Variety printed the number. Blood Sisters, the 2022 series, had 11 million hours viewed since its May debut. A Sunday Affair rode that pipeline as a Valentine original instead of a theatrical holdout. The two leads had already shared a screen in Fifty. Alexx Ekubo, Uzor Osimkpa, Chris Iheuwa, and Hilda Dokubo fill the adult circle around the trio. After the Lagos premiere, Premium Times ran Dakore Egbuson-Akande calling the part her most challenging movie role yet. She did not sell it as a light rom-com. ,
Abudu parked a double-dating plot until a streamer would pay for a Valentine dump, then let the trailer tell you a friend is dying before you even press play.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.