Although “Lovebirds” reunites director Michael Showalter with his “The Big Sick” star-screenwriter Kumail Nanjiani, this indie rom-com delves more into genre cinema than the deft humane handling of their previous effort. A real shame, if you ask me. Showalter choosing the “high-concept” comedy “Lovebirds” as his follow-up feature is a peculiar decision and, more frustratingly, one riddled with a lack of artistic ambition. Showalter’s “The Big Sick” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay back in 2018, but don’t expect “The Lovebirds” to get any kind of Oscar love — it’s a real clunker.
The movie has a struggling couple, played by the talented Nanjiani and Issa Rae, trying to clear their names after they are accidentally framed for a murder. What ensues is a generic composite of a romantic comedy and a chase thriller that uses ’90s action-comedy tropes to tell its story, but fails due to a clunky screenplay by writers Aaron Abrams & Brendan Gall.
Set in New Orleans, Nanjiani stars as Jibran, a struggling documentary filmmaker, and Rae is Leilani, a successful ad agency exec. They are a couple on the brink of splitting up as they drive to a friend’s dinner party, only to have their world upended when a cyclist crashes into their windshield. A mysterious man (Paul Sparks) suddenly appears, taking over their car, running over the injured cyclist and fleeing the crime scene. Worried they’ll be framed for murder, our romantic pair decides to run for it and begins their search for the mysterious man. Right there and then, a red flag should be raised — who in their right mind would run from a crime scene if they are innocent of the misdeed? Of course, there wouldn’t be any drama without these actions being taken, but setting a drama entirely on an implausible premise is already a worrisome proposition for the viewer.
Unfurling over a single night, Showalter’s movie has been described as a hipster version of ”After Hours,” yeah, good luck finding the same batshit crazy artistry of that Scorsese masterpiece. The series of improbable, near-death experiences here include blackmailing fratboys, a murderous Senator’s wife (Anna Camp), and a masked sex cult ala “Eyes Wide Shut.” None of these episodes click, but feel rather strenuous, as Showalter and his screenwriters try hard to mix some Raymond Chandler into their conventional narrative.
Leaning too heavily on the clunky murder-mystery, Showalter doesn’t give Nanjiani and Rae much breathing room for improv or any sort of comedic dynamic. They mostly stick to the pedantic script, which is filled with the kind of predictable patterns one would normally find in conventional action-comedies. “The Lovebirds” has action sequences sandwiched between moments of relationship therapy, mixed with implausible story arcs, and, most infuriating of all, idiotic decisions made by its lead characters. Running at a brisk but limited 86 minutes, the failure of this rom-com has more to do with the screenwriting than either of its two leads.
Originally scheduled to be released in theaters by Paramount in April, with a flashy SXSW premiere scheduled and then canceled, the studio eventually sold it to Netflix and it is now due to premiere on the streaming giant’s platform this coming Friday. [C]