The Lovebirds (2020)
86 min.
Release Date: May 24, 2020 (Netflix)
“The Lovebirds” is one of those screwball action-romantic comedies where ordinary people get thrust into an extraordinary situation—2010’s Steve Carell-Tina Fey vehicle “Date Night” instantly comes to mind—only this time, Issa Rae (2020’s “The Photograph”) and Kumail Nanjiani (2020’s “Dolittle”) tag-team and elevate such a concept. Their paired presence is a very good thing because they are about all this middling, sporadically funny romp has going for itself and squeeze just enough chuckles out of the material. If it manages to never be as hilariously madcap as one would like it to be with the talent attached, “The Lovebirds” still hits the spot generally as a diverting time-passer carried by the charm of its two stars.
Leilani (Issa Rae) and Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani)—she works for an ad agency and he is a documentary filmmaker—fall for each other hard after a hook-up. Four years later and living together in New Orleans, the honeymoon phase is officially over, as Leilani and Jibran argue about the pettiest of things all the time. In the midst of another argument while on their way to a dinner party, the couple decides their relationship isn't working. Right as they call it quits, Jibran hits a bike messenger with the car, but the bicyclist gets back up mostly unscathed and pedals away. Then a corrupt cop (Paul Sparks) jumps in the driver’s seat and commandeers their vehicle, chasing down the bicyclist before running him over and over again and then fleeing the scene. Seen by witnesses running away and convinced that the cops will pin the murder on them, Leilani and Jibran find themselves with the dead bicyclist’s phone and embroiled in the middle of an elaborate blackmail scheme.
“The Lovebirds,” from writers Aaron Abrams and Brendal Gall and director Michael Showalter (2017’s “The Big Sick”), keeps a tight, breezy pace without being able to overstay its 86-minute welcome and holds a bittersweet undertone at the center of a nonsensically plotted situational comedy. The framed-for-murder plot that plucks Leilani and Jibran into actual life-or-death danger is obviously going to be secondary to the characters, but even then, it’s not engaging enough as a mystery worth solving. With the exception of the couple crashing a clandestine “Eyes Wide Shut”-esque masquerade orgy, the zany situations aren't particularly clever, nor do they pay off in a surprising way. When Leilani and Jibran are threatened by a senator (Kyle Bornheimer) and his southern wife (Anna Camp) with the option of being tortured by hot bacon grease or a horse kicking them in the chest, it's a detour that goes limp real fast.
Individually, Issa Rae is so fresh and appealing with an infectious energy and a radiant smile, and Kumail Nanjiani has proven himself already an instantly likable leading man with a skill for his deadpan delivery. Put them together and they sell Leilani and Jibran as a bickering couple on the verge of breaking up without coming across as overly annoying. There’s never really any doubt that Leilani and Jibran will be okay by the end of this one long night, but it’s still a testament to these two performers when we actually care what happens to their characters. Leilani and Jibran react to this situation as minorities who are afraid the police will clock them right away, and maybe, just maybe, their relationship could be strengthened in the process.
Despite the occasional gag that hinges on the rambling oversharing of the lead couple and just slackens the momentum, there are laughs here and there. One suspects that some of the jokes were most likely improvised on set, but courtesy of the actors' comedic styles and their back-and-forth, "The Lovebirds" clicks best when the characters engage in quick-witted one-liners and physical bits. Jibran’s milkshake cup monologue is an amusing throwaway, and Katy Perry’s “Firework” is used in a joyous, character-based moment in an uber. No matter, Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani make such a solid match and good company for an hour and a half that one just wishes the script were better and as punchy as them. As an excuse to watch two charismatic people bumbling through so-so misadventures, one could do mighty worse than "The Lovebirds."
Grade: C +
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