{"id":8325,"date":"2020-05-25T18:17:30","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T18:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/?p=8325"},"modified":"2020-05-26T18:29:43","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T18:29:43","slug":"the-lovebirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/the-lovebirds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lovebirds"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Not your best romcom, but Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae make this film a pleasant distraction. Both Nanjiani and Rae are enormously talented, but the comedy is not as funny as it should have been. They do get to show off some action moves but Director Michael Showalter\u2019s film has a ridiculous, forced premise. You know from the get go that this bickering couple will finally get back together. It\u2019s a genre that\u2019s been done over and over again, all the way back to Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rae and Nanjiani are cute together using their deft ability of improv to enhance scenes, but often talk over each other at the joke\u2019s expense. Most of the screen time is only of their back and forth together. The few characters that make short appearances to interact with the leads aren\u2019t given much shrift. Some of that seems intentional to keep you watching to find out who the ne\u2019er-do-wells are, but it\u2019s too thin. And set in New Orleans, you\u2019re never really given a sense that you\u2019re in this picturesque setting. There\u2019s no NOLA ambiance.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8335″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8328″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8333″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]We see bickering lovebirds, Leilani and Jibran, on the brink of breaking up over her harebrained notion that they could be contestants and win The Amazing Race<\/i>. While Jibran is driving, they hit a guy on a bicycle. They freak out. But it gets worse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They get carjacked by a guy with a moustache (Paul Sparks) who takes them on a wild ride going after Bicycle guy. When he catches him, Bicycle guy is used as a speed bump not once, not two, but too many times, with our couple in the car. Now, they\u2019ve not only witnessed a murder, they realize they could get framed for it.<\/p>\n

The rest of their film is trying to prove their innocence and find each other again, under desperate circumstances. There are some funny scenes but some are just too silly. Just their t\u00eate-a-t\u00eate in the diner where they\u2019re trying to figure out their next moves shows some chemistry. They end up with milk shakes instead of much needed hard liquor. Having a conversation about the leftover milk shake in the container that\u2019s always too big plays more like an observational standup comedy bit. Nanjiani\u2019s humor frequently dwells on the silliness of ordinary things which pops up several times in this film. Unfortunately, it doesn\u2019t always work here.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8334″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8329″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8330″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Issa Rae is very animated. She gets to play way over the top and is much more fun to watch in contrast to Nanjiani\u2019s drole, understated presence. Their big action scene with a tough cookie named Edie (Anna Camp- Pitch Perfect<\/i>) and a horse is weak. What should landed a laugh, lands with a thud. And the theater scene with masked cultists that telegraphs impending doom doesn\u2019t land well either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s sad that these talented actors were saddled with a premise that ended up being an ineffectual series of bits. Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani are two very likable actors who bounce off each other well. These lovebirds deserve a better tale to show off that good chemistry.<\/p>\n

Netflix \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>1 hour 26 minutes \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>R<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YzPq8uVgLe8″ el_width=”80″ align=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Not your best romcom, but Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae make this film a pleasant distraction. Both Nanjiani and Rae are enormously talented, but the comedy is not as funny as it should have been. They do get to show off some action moves but Director Michael Showalter\u2019s film has a ridiculous, forced premise. You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8325"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8349,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325\/revisions\/8349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}