'The Lovebirds' is on Netflix on May 22nd, 2020.
As a big fan of Issa Rae and Insecure, I knew right away The Lovebirds was a movie I’d probably enjoy.
Issa and Kumail Nanjiani star as Leilani and Jibran, a couple on the brink of breaking up until they get
unintentionally integrated in a crazy murder mystery. The movie starts out with a typical standard
cheesy rom com love scene showing our two main characters meeting and falling in love. Contrary to
the typical rom com, the next scene shows them four years later. The honeymoon phase has worn off
and we see them struggling as a couple. As they’re breaking up on the way to a friend’s dinner party,
they accidentally hit a bicyclist and unleash a bizarre chain of events.
At an hour and 26 minutes, this movie somehow seemed a bit short. They mixed in a lot of subplots that
felt a bit rushed towards the ending. They introduced a crazy “Eyes Wide Shut” type sex cult at one
point and then we never really got closure on WHAT that was or who was in it. Like what??? I felt weird
even writing that out, so I definitely could have used a bit more information.
This movie felt like a modern take on “Date Night” – does anyone else remember that movie? With
Steve Carrell and Tina Fey? This was very similar – a rom com murder mystery. I think it was a fun movie
that focused more on its comedic stars than it did the plot. Issa and Kumail had great chemistry and I
found myself laughing out loud more than once…including the ending – that cracked me up. Overall, this
was a fun, funny, quirky movie. Maybe not the type of movie I’d go out of my way to see in theaters, but
in quarantine, The Lovebirds is the perfect Friday night movie!
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Lauren Gallagher (Contributor) is born and raised in South Jersey. When she isn’t yelling at Philly sports teams on the TV, she enjoys seeing the latest action films and true crime documentaries.Click Here to check out Lauren's Articles.