The Lovebirds Review: An Unexciting and a Tedious Watch!

Directed by Michael Showalter, The Lovebirds on Netflix stars Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani in the lead roles. And with the current pandemic situation shutting down cinemas worldwide, movie studios are eyeing for a direct streaming release, skipping the theatrical run. And in the list of films that are aiming for the direct OTT release, The Lovebirds, originally scheduled to release in April by Paramount Pictures, made its debut today on Netflix, in a rather celebratory fashion.

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However, a few minutes into the movie, I was glad that The Lovebirds didn’t have a theatrical release as the studio made the right choice to release it on Netflix so that it would be just another title on Netflix’s giant library with the options to skip.

The narrative of The Lovebirds opens with our protagonists – Leilani (Issa Rae) and Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) who are, literally, the exact opposites of the title of the film. Four years into their marriage, they dislike each other and end up arguing about everything. With their dry, loveless relationship on the brim of a break-up, they dress-up to visit a friend’s place for a get-together. And on their way to the destination, they accidentally involve themselves into a murder that they didn’t commit and are on the run from the local police. As the remainder of the movie showcases how they entangle themselves from the trap and save their failing relationship.

With Aaron Abrams, Brendan Gall, and Martin Gero working on the story, and the screenplay side of things, I would’ve enjoyed the movie more if the three-man band worked on making the film compelling from start to finish. The dialogues and the one-liner coupled with Rae and Nanjiani’s delivery and body language are, to the least, entertaining. Yet, the main problem with the film began when the couple chooses to go search for the killer which could help them get out of this glorious mess.

The manner in which this ordinary, civilian couple investigate the murder themselves, and went after each clue they find out was not compelling to watch through, and through alongside an awful lot of dialogues the leads kept chattering. And this is where the narrative hinders and fails to further accordingly. With a run-time just under 90 minutes, it honestly felt like a lifetime when the movie finally came to an end.

On the bright side, Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani’s performances were satisfactory to watch. One of the very few positives I was able to find in this monotonous film was their ability to act, and bring in some liveliness to the script. Unlike Michael Showalter’s previous work – The Big Sick, this film fell flat due to the lack of engaging elements to look forward to. The dedicated performances from the lead stars are ruptured by a weak screenplay which is slow in its entirety, sluggish at multiple parts, and a climax that felt lackluster.

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Overall, The Lovebirds on Netflix had nothing new to offer as the run-of-the-mill storyline, and the tiring screenplay will make you yawn at times. If you’re someone who followed Kumail and Showalter’s previous works, then The Lovebirds might excite you as it is up to you to decide whether to watch this movie only for a few comical scenes it had to offer while ignoring the bland storyline. But, I would suggest skipping and look for some other titles that Netflix offers. Watch ‘The Lovebirds’ on Netflix here.

Rating – 2/5 | Grade – C

Images via Paramount Pictures