Watching another couples terrifying night out can make for a passably decent night in with The Lovebirds. The film was initially going to premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival before a scheduled April theatrical release from Paramount, but then a global pandemic happened and it is now opening worldwide on Netflix.

Which is perhaps oddly fitting, as The Lovebirds is a movie about circumstances and complications. Directed by Michael Showalter from a script by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall, the film opens with the sweet and cute beginnings of romance between Leilani (Issa Rae) and Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) before cutting to four years later, when the compounded small grievances and major annoyances of being a couple have them on the verge of breaking up. That is before they find themselves mixed up in a strange series of events, convinced they are wanted for murder and now on the run through nighttime New Orleans.

On a scale of other recent films that mixed the long-term rom-com with the action thriller, The Lovebirds lands somewhere between Game Night, starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, and Date Night, starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

Rae and Nanjiani have a quicksilver chemistry, flashing from playful banter to genuine, hurtful arguing in an instant. Its often up in the air whether to root for this couple to even stay together someone holding them at gunpoint says, You seem like a nice though somewhat annoying couple which gives the movie an extra charge.

Whether improv or scripted, the film is at its best during moments such as when Rae offhandedly calls a college frat guy little Brett Kavanaugh, Nanjiani fastidiously parses the distinction between a reality show and a docuseries or the couple find themselves reconnecting by singing Kay Perrys Firework full voice in the back of a Lyft. (And after the conspicuous Uber placement in Nanjianis The Big Sick and Stuber, that feels like a joke unto itself.)

As with his direction on The Big Sick which starred Nanjiani in a story based on his real-life relationship with Emily V. Gordon and earned the couple an Oscar nomination for their screenplay Showalter is unflashy, efficient and willing to let the performers fully take the spotlight. But whats disappointing about The Lovebirds is that a group of talents this dynamic would produce a movie that is this much just kind of OK. With the collective cultural savvy of Rae, Nanjiani and Showalter behind it, The Lovebirds should have more bite and insight.

THE LOVEBIRDS

Two and a half stars

Starring:Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani

Directed by: Michael Showalter

Running time: 86 minutes

Rated: R

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