The Lovebirds

So I know things slowed down this month. There were a couple of reasons for that. One reason was just that I was watching more TV shows and as you might know, that takes me a little more time to get out. I also had some work stuff that I needed to focus on, but I wanted to knock this movie out because it does signify some of the movies that are going to be coming out this year, the ones that would have come out in theaters but instead are released straight to streaming platforms due to the pandemic. On a side note, there are a lot of good movies and shorter series that have come to Netflix during the pandemic and I'm hoping that I can start knocking some of those things off my list sooner or later so stay tuned.

I saw the trailer for The Lovebirds and while it wasn't a movie that I was wildly excited for, I do like Kumail Nanjiani and I thought the movie would be fun to either check out in theaters with friends (that obviously did not happen) or it would be good to check out when it came to Netflix (which is definitely what happened).

The Lovebirds is not really a new concept. It's the story of the struggling couple going through a life or death scenario in a comedic fashion and finding out what they truly love about each other. You've seen it in the Steve Carrell/Tina Fey movie Date Night in 2010, Game Night was a spin on this. Usually it takes place over the course of a night for some reason. And The Lovebirds is very similar.

The story follows Jibran (played by Kumail Nanjiani) and Leilani (played by Issa Rae). The story mainly takes place four years into their relationship as they are consistently fighting and trying to figure out why they are in this relationship. Just as they decide it might not be working for them, they witness a murder by chance and believe that they are the primary suspects. They go on the run and decide the best way for them to clear their names and avoid going to jail is if they investigate the person who was killed. This leads them on a scavenger hunt of clues involving a massive conspiracy and introducing them to wacky characters.

If you've seen the trailer, you know exactly what happens in the beginning to start the whole narrative off. In the trailer, its cut together very well where Nanjiani and Rae's comedy is played off very well.

In the actual film though, the scene where they witness the murder is actually a lot more serious than I initially expected and while the two leads are trying to bright up the scene so you're laughing, it's not quite enough to get things rolling, and I think that's probably one of the criticisms I have of the film, the leads.

I really like Kumail Nanjiani. He's had a string of movies where he's the comedic straight man reacting to wacky scenarios so you'd think that this would work well for him if they keep on using him in those scenarios. And while I haven't seen much of Issa Rae, I think she's a fine actor. I just don't think these two together pair up in a way that really allowed them to push through the more serious aspects of a couple witnessing a murder the way I've seen it done in previous films.

Also, I'm not totally sold on their chemistry. They have some good moments, but a lot of them feel scripted and they spend the majority of the movie either arguing or disagreeing on the approach they should take. The whole premise of the film is that they've been in a relationship for a while and they're fighting a lot, but I got half way through the film and I almost wanted them to come to the end of the film and realize that they weren't right for one another.

On a side note, I do wonder why, despite being in a lot of these smaller formulaic comedies is Nanjiani not contributing to the writing of them? Maybe he just wanted to focus on acting for them, but I think if you're going to have Nanjiani be the comedic person in the movie maybe he can write some of his own jokes?

The movie is not devoid of humor. It just didn't have a whole lot of substance that will make it a very memorable film. Ultimately, I'm glad Netflix put it out so early because it probably would have been a couple more months before I ended up watching this.

Overall, The Lovebirds is not a horrendous film. I was looking for a light comedy to soak up an hour or so of my evening last night and that's exactly what happened with The Lovebirds. But I'm honestly probably not going to remember much of this film in about a week and while I like the main actors, I'm not sure they had the chemistry to pull off a film like this that at this point is pretty formulaic, and give it any kind of nuance.

But those are my thoughts on The Lovebirds. What did you think? Were you planning on seeing this one in theaters? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie reviews as well as my Twitter ramblings.

Thanks for reading!