Director
Michael Showalter
(The Big Sick)

Starring
Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, Paul Sparks and Anna Camp

I’m a true believer that something good, or of value, can always be derived from an unwelcome experience. I think almost all of us can agree that this global pandemic we’re currently living with is an unwelcome experience in an abundance of ways. So, what does this new action comedy The Lovebirds have to do with any good can we take from the Coronavirus you ask? Well, Paramount Pictures originally scheduled The Lovebirds to be theatrically released in April 2020, but sold the rights to Netflix due to the pandemic. Therefore, it most definitely has saved many people from a wasted trip to the cinema. I miss cinemas greatly, so don’t say this lightly either!

Bickering couple Lailani (Issa Rae from TV series Insecure) and Jibran (The Big Sick’s Kumail Nanjiani) are on their way to a dinner party with friends when they land themselves in quite the conundrum. Without meaning to, they implicate themselves in the murder of a person and must find a way to prove their innocence. A dangerous stranger, the police and their constant verbal disagreements stand in the way.

A decent enough opening act strikes up a reasonable amount of curiosity as to how Lailani and Jibran will get themselves out of the mess they’ve unexpectedly ended up in. It’s exactly at this point early into the film where the dialogue and its delivery becomes the centrepiece for entertainment, and instantly takes a rapid decline. The Lovebirds‘ dialogue is peppered with meaningless filler lines and ludicrous suggestions annoyingly exchanged between the two protagonists that are too often poorly written and spoken to be funny. For some reason, a miscast Kumail Nanjiani performs his part as though he were Kevin Hart, often speaking in a panicked and vocally elevated volume that just never suits his style. These grating characteristics are unfortunately here to stay for the remainder of the film’s duration. Thankfully, there are some mild distractions when the script finally gets back to investigating the identity and dealings of the victim. For a brief moment, it looks like we’re deviating somewhere deviant and devilish, but rest assured the writers of The Lovebirds very quickly retract on all potentially mysterious proceedings. Add a few plot holes and bad continuity to the shortfall of mystery and ill-execution of comedic elements, we have ourselves one of the poorer films of 2020.

1 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion
M (Coarse language, mature themes, violence)

Trailer
THE LOVEBIRDS

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc
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