"A Lot Like Love" shows the weakness of love.

A Lot Like Love is a 2023 movie exploring love within the story of a wife trying to get her kidnapped husband back. She learns the depths of love in her marriage as plans unravel and tensions rise to a shattering truth.

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A relaxing trip to Turkey goes awry when Fanna's (Rahama Sadau)husband, Abdul(Suleiman Ibrahim) gets kidnapped before they leave for the airport. She is instructed to avoid telling anyone and avoid lying as she would be watched. With threats to her husband and family, they make their demand for $500,000 by 8 pm that night. She is concerned about how she could obtain that large amount and her concerns are shared with her friends who are present along with the housekeeper. Sadiya (Sophie Alakija) visits Fanna at home due to her confusion about their plan to meet at the airport to drive their car back. Noticing Fanna's worried state and resistance to talk, she tries to figure out what the issue is with their other friend, Mustapha (Gabriel Afolayan). She called him over and despite his hesitance, he arrived to help. 

Fanna persistently refuses to inform them of what had happened but they eventually learn the situation from the gateman, Ahmad(Umar Isah). The kidnappers tell her they know her friends know before they get back in to discuss with her. Her friends encourage her to take other measures to guarantee the safety of Abdul but she's unwilling to involve anyone including the police. She makes it known that they truly are watching her because they knew about them finding out in the short time they learnt of it before heading to her. Mustapha is Fanna's ex-boyfriend and they broke up as she was set up with Abdul. She does not approve of his "street" way of life and accuses Mustapha as the mastermind behind it all but after Sadiya coerces her to apologize, she accepts his help as the last resort for a solution.

They are shocked about the amount demanded but they acknowledge it's that much because Fanna's father (Rikadawa Rabiu) owns a Bureau de Change. She thinks it's best to just give them what they asked for but they ask her how it would be possible to take that kind of money undetected. Mustapha suggests she negotiates the price to avoid her father finding out and turning the town upside down. Then they call agreeing to what they said. They cut down the price to $250,000 but include Sadiya and Mustapha into it saying no one else must know or Sadiya's mother goes first.

She accepts Mustapha's "dirty money" as a loan to avoid withdrawing too much and getting noticed. He gives her more advice but she's desperate to get her husband back no matter what. He tells her the possibility of it being an inside job is highest after they searched for cameras. They concoct a plan to figure out the housekeeper, Ummi (Agbo Iveren) is involved. They realize the extent of this plan after Fanna sends them away due to the frustration of the kidnappers figuring out they are planning something. She blames Sadiya and Mustapha saying she doesn't want their help and tells them to leave her alone. However, they help her still with Mustapha's connection to discover that Ummi is married to Abdul. Sadiya goes back to Fanna with her husband, Nura's (Adams Garba) warning in mind. He says he understands she's helping her friend but the situation is getting even more dangerous but her family needs her. This is coming after he helped them with the false plan to uncover Ummi's role. 

Sadiya catches Fanna to tell her the truth but she is in denial. She had the money withdrawn and was about to leave to exchange it with the kidnappers but accepting he was a different person was hardest. She tells Sadiya she wants a certain type of love like Sadiya has been blessed enough to have. She had a perception of Abdul shown through her flashbacks and scenes before his kidnapping as the sweetest guy which she wasn't ready to accept was false. She says he loves her before blaming Mustapha and leaving. She is successful in exchanging the money for Abdul and they return home. She suggests they go to the hospital but he declines before she helps tend to his wounds. However, his question about his phone and the certainty that it was not taken by the kidnapper leads her to search the car. She finds out what her friends said was true and she is distraught. After considering murder, she weeps and heads to Mustapha to vent. Mustapha tells her, "You bagged a scammer. A married scammer" before saying he has the information she needs to do what needs to be done.

Fanna catches Mustapha at his shared home with Ummi. He changed and got some things before heading to get her for their getaway but Ummi already left. She left him a message about taking the money and hoping he would get back with Fanna as she left with her true love. As he finished reading the message, Fanna entered the home and said that she knew it but hoped somewhere in her that it was a lie. He tries to recover things but she says she already knows everything. He says he's sorry before saying he loves her in hopes of starting afresh while blaming Ummi but she says the words don't mean anything anymore. She says "I loved you but you made me go through pain and grief in one day. I was running mad because of you." He continues to apologize saying it's still him but she says both of them with pay and she won't forgive him. With a one-month jump, we catch up with Fanna as she dines with her friends. Mustapha continuously takes chances to convince her that they are meant to be together but she friend-zones him saying she needs to focus on herself. She appreciates her upcoming trip to escape the trouble but apologizes deeply to them. They say she will be okay and is a good friend.

Love can lead to various actions and emotions. Fanna loved Abdul and was desperate to do anything to get him back regardless of her status as an heiress. It made her weak to continuously bend to their demands. Her friends' love for her also led to their weakness. They assisted her while putting their lives and the lives of their families at stake to find a solution. Ummi, despite being the first wife had a weak love for her husband and accomplice as she ran away with the money and new love. Throughout, Abdul's stellar character is highlighted as she thinks the best of him especially when compared to Mustapha. In a flashback, we see how kind he portrayed himself to be. They discussed their inability to have children. He is optimistic that they could still be happy even without children but she worries about public perception. He asks if she's married to the world, sleeping with the world or proposed to by the world to ask why she's worried about what the world thinks. He tells her, "I am here and I am telling you that I do not care what the world thinks or says. I do not care if we have children or not, as long as we are happy together." Fanna appreciates his kindness and he says it's easy to be when "an amazing woman" in his life. 

Abdul was chosen for her by her parents. In a flashback, we see that she left Mustapha for Abdul and after he told her how her father makes him feel. She didn't like he made unclean money off the street but he felt she was always defending her father who never made it easy for him. She believed it wasn't her father but he who made them fail. In the present, Mustapha made it a point to mention that Sadiya was street as well but still around Fanna. Abdul was selected to be a better option than him but he was even worse. Abdul works for her father's company which she was going to take over after they returned from Turkey. She appeared to be a workaholic as he took her phone saying she promised to leave work behind for the best anniversary ever before his kidnapping. Her parents wanted them to relax and hopefully have children as they had been work-focused. As she got home to discuss the trip, he welcomed her with a feast and homemade Masa which she was overjoyed about. She considered herself lucky to have a northern man who could cook for her even after his hard day. He responded to this by saying she should call her father to give him a raise for it which she agreed was worth it. 

However, we learn that Abdul is indeed not a greater man. Fanna learnt about everything including his deal with the doctor to hide his previous vasectomy while blaming their childlessness on her. She realized he was married but pretended to be single just to steal from her and her parents. I liked the pacing, the back-and-forth, and even the memories but the reveal of his true character as well as the moment of discovery was weak. It wasn't strong enough to complement the build-up for the shock of a good ending and reveal. Despite his claim of the kidnappers not wanting to hurt her even though they knocked her to the floor, I thought he would be more vicious. I also thought the comeuppance should have been given as well instead of vaguely talked about. I thought the disappointment would be great when she found out he wanted that raise either way. Not condoning domestic violence but it would have been interesting if he revealed his true character by slapping her. It would have made a connection back to Sadiya's accusation of him hitting her. It could have been done as the mask slowly slipped and it would have hit harder knowing how horrible of a person he truly was to put in extra effort to play nice with her only to rob her. He wasn't a believable villain and maybe he wasn't that evil but to be devious enough to do all he did with his first wife in their home had the potential for a shock is all. I enjoyed the movie though.

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