By Patrick Bartlett (Twitter: @alleywaykrew)
I don’t really know how to talk about “The Lovebirds” without discussing the current state of the world and its effect on the film industry. This film was supposed to come out in April and I was actually really looking forward to it. For one thing, I’ve seen something like four movies now purely because of the presence of Kumail Nanjiani. If you had told me at the beginning of HBO’s “Silicon Valley” that he would be the breakout star of the show, there’s not a chance in hell that I would have believed you. However, I ended up seeing “The Big Sick” because of his presence, only to be delighted to find out sitting in the theater that it was directed by Michael Showalter. I grew up with “The State” on MTV and later “Stella” as well as stuff Showalter acted in, like “Wet Hot American Summer”. I enjoyed Showalter’s first directorial effort, “The Baxter”, but it didn’t make a huge impression. However, “The Big Sick” definitely did. Showalter’s direction, along with a semi-autobiographical script co-written by Nanjiani, who also starred, was just the perfect combination for all involved. When I saw the trailer for “The Lovebirds” and saw it was a reteaming of those elements, I was sold and waiting for the release date… then the pandemic hit. Theaters closed. There are a lot of spring/summer releases that have been just sitting in limbo since mid-March and “The Lovebirds” was no different. Luckily, the studio made a deal with Netflix and it’s finally out there and able to be seen.
I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how “The Lovebirds” should have been a Netflix film to start with. Netflix is one of the few ways you’re going to see a mid-budget (aka non-blockbuster) film these days, so I completely understand that logic. I will say though that there is something to be said for the theatrical experience and that’s especially true with a comedy. There are some movies that I saw in the theater and thought were hilarious that when I watched them at home, I wasn’t nearly as impressed by. A crowd of people laughing can make things work that could not normally. I can honestly say though that I still found “The Lovebirds” legitimately funny at home. I feel like it would have been even better with a crowd of people dying laughing around me but regardless, I found this to be funnier than most major comedy releases by far. While “The Big Sick” was as much a drama as it was a comedy, “The Lovebirds” definitely has action in its DNA, which makes for an interesting project for Showalter (less so for Nanjiani after “Stuber” but he’s still more than welcome in this kind of film as far as I’m concerned). I kind of missed Showalter’s absurdist leanings that aren’t exactly omnipresent here but as a showcase for what he can do on a studio level, he’s proven and cemented himself in my estimation.
I would also note that it’s also hard to talk about this film without revealing some pretty minor spoilers. I say “pretty minor” because it’s hard to say that stuff that happens within the first 15 minutes can really be called spoilers but if you’re going in totally fresh… do what you must here. You already have my recommendation. To those that already know or don’t care about spoilers: the film starts with the story of how Nanjiani’s character of “Jibran” and his co-star, Issa Rae’s character of “Leilani” met and fell in love. Moments after that, everything is shifted under the audience’s feet as we witness a fight between them that leads to a breakup. I knew in that moment that this film wasn’t going to be as predictable as most of its ilk. I found myself genuinely wondering how all the pieces were going to fit together… because let’s be honest, in a studio rom-com or in a buddy action-comedy, which are both genres to which this movie belong… you have a pretty good idea of the major story beats and how everything is going to end up (either consciously or subconsciously) before you even sit down to watch. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I can freely admit that most of my favorite genre work adheres to pretty rigid formulas. That’s not relevant to whether or not I enjoy things most of the time. It’s what you do within that structure that matters. If you’re making a slasher film with actual scares, an action movie with genuine thrills, a comedy with real laughs, etc… that’s a success in my eyes.
As can be said about most studio films, the plot is fairly simple and straightforward. The two break up in the car on the way to a friend’s party. On that ride, they accidentally become embroiled in a vehicular homicide (in which said homicide is funnier than you might think or should be honestly). As two people who have never been in a situation like this, they do what most would probably do: they end up running from the scene, scared to death that they will be seen as suspects in the murder. The rest of the film is Jibran and Leilani running from good guys and bad guys alike while untangling both the mystery at the root of the murder and at the heart of their relationship. In that respect, the film is almost a series of sketches tied together by a through-line, which is something that is very much in Showalter’s wheelhouse, coming from sketch comedy like “The State” and later “Stella”.
Other than Showalter’s directorial skill, a major reason this movie works as well as it does is the cast and by that, I primarily mean Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae. I’m sure I’ve already made my affection for Kumail clear by this point but I knew very little about Issa Rae before this. The best compliment I can give is that I desperately want to rectify that after watching this. There are other characters that appear from time to time but the majority of the movie’s runtime is spent with the two of them, so if they’re not interesting then the movie fails. I found myself genuinely caring about them as the movie wore on. My heart broke for both upon things they said to one another. I understood both of them on a deep level and could relate to them. That’s how well-drawn they are. It’s very difficult to take a side between them and I couldn’t help but want to see them end up back together in the end. In the interest of full disclosure: that is not true for me in the case of most romantic comedies. Most of the time, I legitimately do not care about the characters or their relationship in those films. When I say that Jibran and Leilani are characters that I care about, that’s illustrative of the skill of all involved. This isn’t just a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. There’s movies that I have described that way and it’s the definition of “damning with faint praise”. There’s a decent amount of actual praise to offer here with “The Lovebirds”, which I can’t say about a lot of major comedy releases.
In the end, “The Lovebirds” is a hard movie to properly review really because on a structural level, it’s something you’ve seen dozens of times at this point. That’s not really a factor though, or at least it shouldn’t be. The formula exists for a reason. It’s tried and true. What matters is what original work you can do within those boundaries. In that respect, I recommend this film. It’s kind of like what was proven (to a lesser extent) with Kumail Nanjiani’s last major studio comedy, “Stuber”, there’s definitely still ground to cover with the buddy action-comedy genre if you have the right players and “The Lovebirds” definitely has that. It’s also exponentially more interesting than the majority of rom-coms. It’s not a classic but it’s something that I enjoyed quite a bit and I can envision returning to in the future.
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch