The near-persistent movie release delays in the past few months have left me with two glaring feelings:
1. I really miss going to movie theaters
2. This article feels tragically obsolete.

Luckily, the world of streaming has picked up on at least a few of those projects that were supposed to come out, specifically Netflix and their acquisition of 'The Lovebirds' from Paramount. For as sad as I was that this project couldn't get out to a theatrical audience, I was equally happy just to be able to watch it as soon as I could.

Kumail Nanjiani and director Michael Showalter previously collaborated on one of the best romantic comedies in recent memory, 2017's 'The Big Sick and, after seeing 'The Photograph' earlier this year, the idea of Issa Rae coming into that equation had my full support.

So does 'The Lovebirds' live up to that level of potential? I would say it mostly does, thanks in large part to its lead performers who get a lot of great moments out a script that frankly wishes it could keep up with their energy. It's not going to rewrite the way you view rom-coms, but it is effective enough in its efforts and I have to at least give it props for that.

Jibran (played by Kumail Nanjiani) and Leilani (played by Issa Rae) have been a couple for several years. On their way to a friend's party, they realize how strained their relationship has become and decide to break up.

Out of nowhere, they hit a man on a bicycle who quickly rides away, but another man claiming to be a cop forces the duo to pursue the cyclist in their car. When the "cop" runs over the cyclist (killing him in the process), he runs away as two civilians see the dead man.

Believing that they will be accused of killing the man, Jibran and Leilani take the cyclist's phone and hide at a restaurant. They decide that, since they'll likely be arrested, either way, they might as well attempt to find the killer (whom they call "Mustache") using the clues from the phone's messages.

This results in the duo's escapades across New Orleans in an attempt to clear their names, including a group of party-happy frat boys, a masked secret society, and several instances where the duo has to contend with their own relationship.

With a movie like this, what you see in the trailers is pretty much what you're in for. If you were at all interested in the personalities and talents of Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae working off one another, this is going to entertain you on some level.

These two have chemistry for days, both as a romantic couple and as a comedic pairing. Director Michael Showalter has an innate ability to draw out chemistry in his performers and it definitely shows on screen. Nanjiani gets to play a lot of the jokes in his usual manner, but it's Issa Rae who really helps drive a lot of the momentum of the film. The jokes aren't always able to take advantage of the situation, but the characters of Jibran and Leilani are fun enough that just their reactions are enough for some pretty consistent laughs.

The film is also effective when it tries to address our main couple's relationship. We know that, by runtime's end, they'll be a couple again, but the film always takes time to establish that these two legitimately care for one another. Those moments aren't built up with the same depth as 'The Big Sick,' but they're that little bit of extra I appreciate in comedies like this. Honestly, no matter how well this film does, I'd be alright seeing more projects with these two solely on how fun they are to watch on-screen.

My continued praise of Nanjiani and Rae is, in part, because they're really the main pillars holding this movie up. The main chunk of enjoyment comes in whether or not you can identify and root for our main pairing, whereas with 'The Big Sick,' you didn't necessarily have to, what with its engaging supporting cast, overarching social commentary, and twists on how romantic stories could/should be viewed.

'The Lovebirds' isn't trying to be that; the supporting cast is near non-existent (minus a few moments from Anna Camp, Paul Sparks, and Madhi Cocci), it's wearing its rom-com origins on its sleeves, and any sort of larger ideas get pushed aside by the end in favor of wrapping up its story, which just isn't paced out that well.

Despite plenty of comparisons to Shaun Levy's 'Date Night' (and fairly so), I was reminded a lot of Claire Scanlon's 'Set It Up,' another Netflix comedy that doesn't really rewrite the genre, but has performances and characters that you can get wrapped up in for a solid watch. That kind of likeability and structure makes or breaks a lot of romantic comedies and, for me, Nanjiani and Rae have more than enough chemistry to keep some of those larger disparities from shining through.

You might get from some of this that I was disappointed in 'The Lovebirds' and, frankly, I really didn't have that much to dissect with this one, certainly in contrast to my hopes of another 'The Big Sick.' The jokes and chemistry won't slide for everyone (even for someone like me, that chemistry can only keep me invested so long), but I think this will find an audience and, as far as stay-in Netflix comedies go, I'm glad I got to give it a chance.

Overall, I give 'The Lovebirds' 6/10

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