Breakups are usually numbing, but "The Lovebirds" roundabouts with ticklish suspense. Viewers will ruminate about the goings-on while having fun in this roadtrip/date night flick by Netflix. There might not be ticket-buyers to go in cinemas, but the film offers worthwhile shindig for a giggle-shiver watch.
Fan favorite Kumail Nanjiani pairs with dandy Issa Rae as couples Jibran and Leilani. On a hectic day, the lovebirds bicker through dialogue by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall barnished with flecks of humor such as "Do you really think we can win The Amazing Race?" It offsets the looming noir, having Rae's feistiness crest around Nanjiani's gaucheness. An awkward couple is born out of the screenplay's drollery. Possibly inspired by Shawn Levy's "Date Night (2010)," "The Lovebirds" has a screwball story — co-written by Abrams, Gall, and Martin Gero — Jibran and Leilani are on the verge of breaking-up, but witness a murder by a turncoat cop of an unidentified victim. So the lovebirds flock together while their feathers are plucked one by one as they solve the screwy puzzle.
A romantic comedy, "The Lovebirds" morph into a butterfly of a film. First it sees the couple in their cocoon of normalcy, yet reluctantly spreads their wings to flutter in search of logic in their encumbered lives. There is a scene where Leilani, due to the unfortunate gags throughout the night, shops for cheap apparel at a discount pharmacy. She goes for phosphorescent purple leggings under a unicorn hoodie. The costume (by Megan Coates) entails her rainbow-like essence amid having horsed around. On the other side of the rainbow, Jibran puts on confused neutral overalls: a paradoxically neon brown bomber jacket over camouflage joggers. It says about wanting to hide his whereabouts from the murderer and the cops while also soldiering through their already clownish affair. "The Lovebirds" is metaphysical, if the audience is serious at seeing romantic hullabaloo for two hours.
There is a memorable shot: the couple is locked in a car, both of their wrists zip tied. So Leilani mouths the car lighter to char the cuffs loose. The picture of her trying to teeth-and-tongue-grab the lighter at a low close-up arch illustrates the lopsided shenanigans of the "The Lovebirds;" a bit of movie-making know-how from director Michael Showalter. Nanjiani and Rae have unlikely sparks flying, their comedic chops are flaming. Noteworthy is Rae's chuckle-inducing momentum — she is aurora on the screen. Being "The Lovebirds" Nanjiani's latest to his collection of rom-coms, he is turning out to be the likeable face of the genre. His comic timing is unwavering, it must be included in the cast.
In an ode to the legend Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut," a sex cult is infiltrated by the couple on their crusade to fix or dodge their situation. Jibran and Leilani enter on a false membership, akin to Tom Cruise in Kubrick's film, then wear beaked masks (a simile for them being lovebirds) as those worn during the Black Death epidemic in the 17th century. Every member of the cult with the bird masks, it is eerily coincidental, if not prophetic, to the 2020 pandemic. The lovers bear upon an orgy, lead by the also masked master of the ceremony, then are forced to unmask. And like Cruise in the referenced flick, Jibran and Leilani do it amongst the full creepy crowd but with comical gestures. "The Lovebirds" can become an all-time hit since it is easily an energetic adventure with petals of romance on the side. Screwball cheesiness is useful most especially to spice up any relationship and thereafter.
Director: Michael Showalter
Image & Trailer © Netflix, Paramount Pictures; YouTube.com
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