‘Zola’: Movie not bad, the Tweets are better

In theatres now.

[Rating: Minor Rock Fist Up]

We’ve got movies based on books, comic books, toys, TV shows, historical figures, and of course, my favorite: “real life events”. Now, thanks to Zola, we can add “movies based on popular Twitter threads”.

Yes. Seriously.

Now before you click away or decide this movie isn’t for you, I invite you to read the Zola Tweats Twitter thread, because it is an entertaining as fuck story that just sounds like a crazy ass movie. Otherwise, I don’t want to tell you too much about the movie because it’s best to let the story play out on it’s own. But, just to give you some backstory before we go on…

Zola is the story of an exotic dancer slash Hooters waitress, Zola (Taylour Paige), who meets a tricked out, white trash chick named Stefani (Riley Keough), whom she feels is a “kindred spirit” or something. On a whim, Zola heads out on an road trip to Florida with this chick, her boyfriend and their “roommate” in tow, ready to strip, make some cash and party like idiots.

But she quickly learns the dangers of traveling with mofos you don’t know when they turn out to be some crazy, psycho-whore, idiot-ass trash fools playing a dangerous game of pimps and bitches.

The movie, directed by Janicza Bravo (Lemon), just can’t quite match Wells’ energy and voice. Her attempts to capture that lightning in her film bottle is a mixed bag man and it’s all over the place. She approaches from a straightforward narrative, mixed with intercuts of Paige delivering dialogue pulled from the Tweets, and every now and then a narrator telling the story. It works in bits, but the lack of consistency in storytelling doesn’t quite mesh.

And then there are constant sound fx drops, to mimic the constant use of social media — someone seems to always be on their phones, because, you know, people are zombies now. It gets pretty annoying, especially the “tweet” sfx constantly dinging throughout scenes.

Zola works best when Bravo isn’t trying to be cute with the story and letting the actors have fun with the insane characters they are playing and the out of control situation they get into during a weekend road trip to Florida. Keough and especially Paige shine. In fact Paige probably could have pulled off straight up narrating this story — she seems to have the attitude to capture Wells.

Riding along are Derek, the dumbass cuckold boyfriend with no freaking spine, played by Nicholas Braun; and Nasir Rahim, who steals a few scenes as the “roommate” slash pimp that hijacks everyone’s weekend but can’t seem to tame Zola. When these four are allowed to wreak havoc on screen it’s like watching the “real events” of a Jerry Springer episode unravel. There are twists and turns and it’s full of suspense.

Yes. The 148 tweat Twitter read is so much better because you’re getting the story straight from Aziah “Zola” Wells in a voice that can only be captured in a ridiculous social media platform. 

I can’t believe how much I’m having to talk about f*cking Twitter in a movie review.

When it all comes down to it, Zola proves to be another movie where the source material is more entertaining and engaging. And yes, that apparently now applies to movies based on social media posts. But the performances here really do warrant a viewing if you’re the least bit curious how they transfer this insane story to the big screen.

Tagged as: 2021, Aziah "Zola" Wells, Janicza Bravo, Movie Review, Nasir Rahim, Nicholas Braun, Riley Keough, Taylour Paige, Zola