Critical reception

The film received generally negative critical reviews. It got a 39% rating on Nollywood Reinvented, which stated: "The major flaw of this movie comes with its presentation of the emotions. It's in the music, it's in the directing, it's in the atmosphere that the movie sets or doesn’t set earlier on. In the first third of the movie, the direction seemed haphazard. It was almost as though the fast-paced scenes were happening faster than the camera could follow, if that was intentional it did not come off as skilled nor did it help the mood".^[4] Olamide Jasanya of The Nigeria Entertainment Today gave a rating of 2 out of 5 stars, stating that the story is basic and focused too much on one character. He faulted the character development, said the cinematography was poor in some scenes but beautiful in most other scenes and concluded: "Akinmolayan may have learnt his lesson from the heavy criticism his 2010 sci-fi movie Kajola fetched him, so he took a rather realistic approach with this movie and it turned out well, with some new and unusual camera shots, he however didn’t do well at evoking emotions from the characters, neither did he pay enough attention to continuity".^[5] Isabella Akinseye comments: "Make a Move was met with very high expectations. Unfortunately, the movie disappoints with its averagely choreographed sequences, script loopholes and unconvincing acting by most of the cast. On a positive note, the movie makes a case against domestic abuse. For Ivie [Okujaye], it's one step forward, two steps back".^[6]

Wilfred Okiche of YNaija panned everything about the film and commented: "Make a Move has a plot and story that manages to stay on course but the film is so dull and formulaic that almost nothing is exciting. The screenplay is mostly unchallenging and for its entire running time, the film plays like it is directed at 12 year olds," "the end result is cluttered and clumsy with awkward takes and uncomfortable moments. Akinmolayan just directs scene for scene by rote, bringing with him no particular excitement or even film experience".^[7]

Accolades

The film received three nominations at the 2014 Nollywood Movies Awards, including "Best Movie", "Best Actor (Supporting Role)" for Wale Adebayo and "Best Child Actor" for Helger Sosthenes. It was also nominated in 2 categories at the 2015 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards.