"You May Only Kiss The Bride" explores the believer’s responsibility to uphold Godly values and to review marriage - as a gift, not a reward for fervency.

A Review of Harvester’s TV You May Only Kiss The Bride

You May Only Kiss The Bride is an original movie by Harvester Entertainment Company Production. It was produced by Daniel Etim-Effiong and Pearl Agwu and directed by Great-Valentine Edochie.

It starrs Dorcas Olowolagba, Daniel Etim-Effiong, Pastor Bolaji Idowu, Pastor Mo Idowu, and a host of others.

The movie follows the life of 31-year-old Toke Fadeyi (Dorcas Ariyike Owolagba), who seems pressured by her family and the marital situation of the people around her to get married.

She then decides to launch Ring by 32—a campaign with five actionable steps: to attend a youth-centered church, position herself, and get married. This personal project, Ring by 32, is fuelled by her obsession with achieving two important goals—love and marriage—before her next birthday.

The campaign, which starts as a 5-step commitment, soon expands to accommodate plan number 6: You may only kiss the bride.

This idea comes after Toke’s first Sunday at church, where she hears the Pastor speak about chastity. She then decides to cut every form of sexual relationship with men till she meets the one who puts a ring on it.

After getting to step 3 of her plan—to join a workforce that puts her in the face of her prospects—Toke randomly meets her church pastor one day after service.

During his chat with her, he discovers she joined the church recently but has yet to become familiar with some of the church doctrines and resources provided to help her grow spiritually. So, he hands her over to Ubong (Daniel Etim Effiong), a brother in the church, who can help her settle nicely into the church’s system.

Toke’s journey with Ubong progresses well. He seems to tick all her boxes, and she successfully implements five of six of her Ring by 32 objectives. After her relationship with Ubong moves significantly and he hints about their meeting each other’s parents, Toke seeks advice from her besties Rachel and Didi ( Munachi Abii and Teniola Aladese ), on how to call off Step 6, or the celibacy clause, according to Rachel.

The movie ends with Toke realizing God’s unending love for her, gaining a better understanding of who she is and her worth in God; and letting this understanding inform her decisions to become a better Christian.

The movie serves as a critique of some important and urgent issues to address within the church.

The first is society’s definition of chastity and abstinence from fornication. It's much more the Christian’s definition of it, too. One can deduce that Toke's decision to abstain from all forms of sexual relationships with men did not stem from the proper knowledge. In her words, “...so going forward, baby girls, high standards only.”

This comes shortly after she “gists” her friends about the pastor’s response to a question about a lady’s partner not being on board with her beliefs about no sex before marriage.

Toke’s understanding of chastity and abstinence sadly happens to be the stance of some young Christians today. It stemmed from not making her body accessible to just anybody.

She was ready to remove the step from her plans when she realized Ubong was serious and likely to marry her. She tells him, “You don’t have anything to prove anymore” after step 5 because she sees abstinence from fornication as a means for her partner to prove himself worthy of her (body) rather than of both of them honoring God’s word.

Another issue the film explores is obsession with love and marriage. Young women like Toke are enmeshed between the preservation of the times and overwhelming social expectations.

In a bid to unburden themselves with the apprehension of culture, they slip into further complications of religious hypocrisy among young men.

It is okay to want or desire love and attraction, but it becomes a problem when this desire becomes an idol or obsession. For Toke, one can deduce that her craze for marriage and love results from the spoken pressures from her family and the unspoken ones from the people around her.

This desperation sees her take her ex-boyfriend Richard (Prince Nelson Nwerem) back even after catching him cheating repeatedly. It also eventually drives her to the edge of getting a by-force-by-fire proposal before her next birthday, which sends her on a spiral of not seeking God by going to church but joining the church as a strategy for getting a good man.

The film delivers on its exploration of these two issues among other sub-themes, which is highly commendable, and the resolution for Toke is worthy of note and essential for Christians to understand.

The script, however, doesn’t perfectly deliver the idea of the complexities of marriage. A pointer to this is in Toke’s last scene with her friends. In a bid to speak sense to their friend—let her know that their marital life isn’t perfect, or help her embrace the beauty and happiness in her current status—Didi and Rachel go on a talk on how their life as married people isn’t all rosy.

They seem to long to have ‘the freedom’ that Toke has and tend to support the trope that all is not rosy in marriages, especially when it comes to a woman thriving personally.

This conversation, being the beginning of the light bulb moment for Toke, further makes it dangerous. The script could have found a way to make Toke see reasons not to pursue marriage for the wrong reasons instead of taking the route of her friends sharing their not-so-glamorous marital parts to get her to see reasons.

This flaw is not all so disadvantageous because the conversation also points out that there is no perfect institution to solve the marital challenges of young women today.

The church or society has its limitations on these issues. The church is not a waste dump for hypocrisy. Men and women like Toke should not see the church as a waste dump for hypocrisy. Can young people find their spouses in the church? Yes. Is the church for finding spouses? No. But in any case, following and loving God deeply should be a man’s most pressing desire, while other things remain secondary.

In conclusion, You May Only Kiss The Bride explores the responsibility of unmarried believers to uphold Godly principles by refraining from all forms of sexual sin before marriage.

It also highlights the notion that there is no monopolistic idea of happiness in marriage and encourages Christians not to view marriage as a reward or bonus for attending church.

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You should watch "You May Only Kiss The Bride" here:

https://youtu.be/YG1HcNKqHVc