The Lovebirds

This review may contain spoilers!

The onscreen relationship presented by Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani is one of the best I've seen this year. I would give The Lovebirds a 7.5/10.

The Lovebirds follows Leilani and Jibran, a long-term couple whose relationship is on the rocks when their car gets hijacked by a criminal who then utilises it to commit a murder. Caught in the fallout of the event the pair decide to solve the murder on their own rather than become implicated as suspects; what occurs after that is nothing short of irreverent comedic genius. The strength of the film relies heavily upon how interesting the two lead characters are, both individually and as a couple. Watching how the film begins you can't help but be drawn into the budding of ordinary love; but the time jump into the same relationship four years later does an amazing job of presenting a very grounded, if not tumultuous relationship. I found these characters to be wholly unique, not really the personalities that would normally headline your generic romantic action-comedy; and really the film benefits from this fresh voice. I felt like I was watching a very grounded narrative that refused to sacrifice story for comedy and sought out moments of comedy in a very natural way. The story around the murder had some very interesting plot elements, such as the secret cult, that have never really been done before as well. The cinematography is expertly framed around the leading duo, the shots look really polished and puts the style of this comedy ahead of a great many others I've seen.

Issa Rae, who played Leilani, is a strong leading comedic performer who has some seriously strong line delivery that will have you cracking up; Rae plays a role who is desperate to be validated by others and not entirely confident with her self-image and I think the manner in which she develops her role is an incredible arc.

However, the best performance came from Kumail Nanjiani, who played Jibran. For a long time now Nanjiani has excelled when his comedic talents have been applied to grounded, fresh comedies that have really set the bar for comedic cinema. I really like watching Nanjiani, he knows how to play to a likeable character and has a gentle delivery that sets him apart from other comedic performers. I think Jibran as a role is such a rich character; he's very self-conscious and introspective. There are a number of scenes in which he deflects from his stress by comedically monologuing about the situation around him, a real strength of the film. I also really can't stress enough just how impressive the romantic onscreen chemistry is between Nanjiani and Rae. Kumail Nanjiani is one of the best comedic talents performing right now and I seriously can't wait for whatever he has in store for us next.

I think The Lovebirds is a fresh comedy that benefits from pulling punches but because it does this there are some large moments of the film that don't really feel fulfilled. The comedic quality of the film is really good but there's not always enough of it, you can go several scenes before the characters start bouncing off one another or find themselves in a funny situation again. Likewise, because the film wants to prioritise telling the story of the relationship or playing to moments of comedy, the engaging murder mystery narrative can miss out which makes the big confrontation in the final act a little anti-climatic by comparison. The film isn't lacking for content and it never tries to push things too far, but it doesn't take enough risks and for that the feature does suffer. The editing for the film isn't very inspired, instead keeping to quite a gradual slower pace. The soundtrack for the film has some heartening or comedic moments but as a whole it doesn't have much of a 'wow' factor; while the score keeps to the trend of comedies lacking interesting original music.

Paul Sparks, who played Moustache, is about as interesting as his character name; the film doesn't really place much importance on his role as an antagonist so you never really feel he gets anymore dangerous than when you meet him in his first scene. Anna Camp, who played Edie, is another antagonist that doesn't work strongly into the film; Camp has more of a quirky villain at her disposal but the performance and scene are pretty confusing to watch. Andrene Ward-Hammond, who played Detective Martin, plays her criminal investigator as quite a generic figure in the film; when Ward-Hammond is paired off against other figures she tends to differ to them and never has a commanding presence in a scene. Moses Storm, who played Steve, has a lot of potential as a young suspect being interrogated by the inexperienced leading roles but he never really seizes the moment; Storm's scene is a lot of fun and one of the more unique to watch in the feature but he never finds an angle to make his performance and role notable.