3 Short Paragraphs: The Lovebirds

2020, d. Michael Showalter - netflix

There are so many of these movies -- the ones where the "normal" couple-in-trouble who get caught up in criminal proceedings -- that they can start to blur.  I can't tell a Game Night from a Date Night at this point.  But this one works, mainly because it's two leads work.  From moment one of the movie Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani are crackling with fire and charisma, dishing out effortless rat-a-tat dialogue throughout the whole film.  We open with them on their first date and cut to them 3 years later, living together but on the outs.  On their way to a party they run into a cyclist who leaves the scene of the collision.  Their vehicle is then commandeered by a police officer, or at least someone claiming to be a police officer, who then chases down the cyclist and runs him over. Repeatedly.  Showalter's darkly comedic sensibility shines as he focuses a steady shot on Nanjiani with each bump over the body.  The couple then believe they will be accused of the murder and flee, deciding to try and clear themselves by investigating.  It's doesn't really employ the wrong guy farce it could have, and I'm still trying to decide whether that's a good choice or not.  It certainly left some comedy on the table in not pushing that element too hard.

A rather perfunctory movie, it lives entirely off of Rae and Nanjiani's performances, and it succeeds because of it.  Usually films of this type will have a comedic ringer, a supporting character who we can keep checking in with to generates the *big laffs* but here it (and Showalter) know that Rae and Nanjiani are enough.  The bad guy, the cops, most of the side characters are basically the straight men to them. 

The pair break up just as the accident happens and they spend the movie trying to be respectful of each other's space, while at the same time realizing that they're definitely in the situation together.  It's a sweeter film for having their chemistry be so effectively charming, as I was rooting for the inevitable revelations about each other that lead to rekindled affection and reconciliation.  But their time as a non-couple in the middle of their criminal investigation makes for an interesting little spin on this otherwise typical scenario.  Of course had they been a terrible couple, and then trapped in a life-or-death(or at least life-imprisonment) scenario where the odd couple is forced to depend on each other, if only to exacerbate exactly why they shouldn't be together, well that would be something different. The film's big climax is its biggest weakness.  It's so truncated, it feels like the movie ran out of budget to really deliver a big closer, so it kind of just arrives abruptly and finishes just as abruptly.  But one can't fault a brisk and breezy comedy too much for closing it out quickly in an era where comedies are regularly topping 2 hours.