Romantic comedies come in many forms, even now at a time when the subgenre is enjoying a boom of stories on streaming and cable services that it didnt have a couple of decades ago. Its easy to label the subgenre predictable because of the expected ending of each film, but that does a disservice to the numerous filmmakers out there who have turned their love of the humble romcom into an opportunity to twist its various tropes into exciting new shapes. Still, no matter how much you play with the format, these are films that usually come down to one thing: The chemistry of the two leads. If you dont have that, your film will land with a thud.

Great romantic chemistry and great comedic chemistry are often two different things, and actors can certainly share one without having a hint of the other. Finding two stars that are able to make both work at once is hard, which is why when a film that manages it very well comes around, its worth celebrating. The Lovebirds, and the unstoppable chemistry of stars Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae, is worth celebrating.

The film follows Jibran (Nanjiani) and Leilani (Rae), a couple who have soured on each other after a few years of living together in New Orleans. Despite a passionate opening, their relationship has devolved into pointless fighting, and feels like its reaching its end stages. Then one night, on their way to a party, a sudden run-in with a brutal man claiming to be a cop sends them spiraling into a strange web of suspicion, murder, shadowy organizations, and one very persistent women with a pan full of hot bacon grease (Anna Camp, who is always a delight). With no one to turn to but each other, Jibran and Leilani have no choice but to work together to survive the night.

Yes, this is one of those comedies with a plot that could easily be framed as a taut drama or even a thriller if the filmmakers wanted it that way, which means a certain degree of verisimilitude is required to make the laughs work amid all the darkness. For that, The Lovebirds has the secret weapon of director Michael Showalter, whos been twisting laughs out of weird tonal mash-ups his entire career. Showalter, who also directed Nanjiani in the excellent (and also somewhat dark) romcom The Big Sick, knows that the key to making comedy work amid jarring or even scary situations is playing it all completely straight, never stopping to wink at the audience but instead leaning all the way in to the absurdity of the moment. The Lovebirds never lets us in on its game. It never picks a moment to puncture the fourth wall and let us all know its going to be OK. Instead, it pushes ahead at breakneck pace, and trusts its stars to do the rest.

And its here that Rae and Nanjiani have their work cut out for them. Both are experienced comedians whove proven especially adept at romantic comedy Nanjiani through The Big Sick and Rae through her exceptional HBO series Insecure but here they have to work even harder to get their charm across amid all the running and screaming and strange run-ins with sketchy characters. And they have to do all of that while also convincingly playing a couple that is both coming apart at the seams and struggling with the feelings they still have for each other. Its a remarkable little emotional dance, but they both make it look easy. Though the plot of the film might not suggest this, watching The Lovebirds feels in some ways like watching two of your friends tell you a story about a really weird night they had one time, and that makes it both easy and delightful to watch.

The Lovebirds is the kind of comedy we could all use right now, a movie about using humor to survive amid a strange and even frightening situation. Its a movie about finding joy where it feels like there is none, led by two of the best comedy stars working right now, and even amid all its darkness, its the heart that you remember most.

The Lovebirds is now streaming on Netflix.

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'The Lovebirds' is showcase of great chemistry - Huntsville Item