Name: Disconnect: The Wedding Planner
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Released: 2023-01-13T00:00:00+00:00
Cast: Catherine Kamau, Pascal Tokodi, Brenda Wairimu

The opening scene of Disconnect: The Wedding Planner is a frenetic montage of tuxedos being steamed, floral arrangements being assembled, and a frantic Otis (Pascal Tokodi) barking orders into his phone. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a wedding planner’s checklist—except nothing on that list includes basic competence or emotional intelligence.

Director David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga’s follow-up to Disconnect is a romantic comedy in name only, and even then, it strains both genres to their breaking points. The film follows Otis, an unreliable playboy who falls victim to a scam and must race against the clock to plan a luxurious destination wedding for a potential investor, Dele (Tope Tedela). The premise is ripe for farce or genuine romantic tension, but Gitonga’s direction feels haphazard, as if he’s more interested in checking off plot beats than crafting a cohesive narrative.

What works—barely—are the moments where Tokodi leans into Otis’ desperation. There’s a scene where he improvises an entire wedding setup using whatever he can scrounge from a local market, and Tokodi’s physical comedy is surprisingly effective. Similarly, Catherine Kamau as Mary, the hardworking wedding planner, delivers a performance that grounds the film in something resembling emotional truth. Her quiet exasperation with Otis’ antics feels authentic, even if her character’s arc is underdeveloped.

But these moments are sparse. The film’s tonal whiplash is jarring; one scene might be a slapstick chase through a hotel lobby, while the next attempts to tug at heartstrings with an unearned romantic confession. Brenda Wairimu as another key player in the wedding chaos brings some much-needed energy, but even her performance can’t salvage the film’s disjointed pacing.

The cinematography is serviceable but uninspired, relying heavily on zooms and quick cuts to manufacture excitement where none exists organically. The sound design is equally forgettable, with a score that feels lifted from a stock music library rather than composed specifically for this film.

Ultimately, Disconnect: The Wedding Planner is a tone-deaf assemblage of plot, character, and theme. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a wedding where the cake collapses, the band quits mid-set, and the officiant forgets to ask if anyone objects.

Tags: romance, Brenda Wairimu, Catherine Kamau, David 'Tosh' Gitonga, Disconnect: The Wedding Planner, Pascal Tokodi