The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Quibbles with Quibi
Phone-only video service intrigues with quick-bite offerings, talent involved, but the frustrations weigh it down
I figured I was just too old to get it. ¶ When I heard about Quibi, it didn’t seem like a great idea to me. A streaming-video service designed exclusively for smartphones that served up five-to-10-minute slices of scripted entertainment along with reality programming and news? ¶ I mean, I guess that could work? ¶ Truthfully, I found the quick-bite idea appealing. After all, when I plop down on the couch for a bit, I’m increasingly more likely to launch the YouTube app via my Apple TV to watch, say, an eight-minute clip than to dive into a half-hour comedy or hourlong drama on broadcast or cable network or streaming platform. ¶ But the phone-only aspect of Quibi? It made no sense to me then, and, following a two-week free trial with the service, it makes no sense to me now. To be clear, it’s not that I don’t want to be able to stream on my phone, just as I can do with Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, etc. But, unlike with Quibi, I can watch any of those — and many other services accessible by mobile devices — on one of my two Apple TV-connected flatscreen TVs in my home, to say nothing of my computer and tablet. I could imagine folks younger than I embracing Quibi. After all, my sense is — and I’m generalizing here — millennials (with their obnoxiously good eyesight) are perfectly content to watch something on their phones. However, to hear Quibi Founder and Board Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg — an entertainment giant whose resume includes leading Walt Disney Studios and co-founding DreamWorks SKG — tell it, the ongoing pandemic has been devastating to Quibi since its launch on April 6. “I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus,” Katzenberg recently told The New York Times, which noted Quibi dropped from the list of the 50 most downloaded free iPhone apps in the U.S. a week after the launch. “Everything. But we own it.” Do you? Katzenberg, CEO Meg Whitman — who spent much of the previous decade as CEO of HewlettPackard and told CNBC the launch has gone swimmingly — and others behind Quibi say they envisioned it as something people would use largely on the go, be that while taking public transportation or waiting in line for coffee. To be fair, many of us have been doing a lot less of both for a couple of months. That said, we’ve all been stuck inside a lot more, and there’s no reason folks can’t curl up with their phones at home. So that’s what I did, downloading the app on my iPhone and choosing the trial of the ad-free version of Quibi that, if I didn’t cancel after a fortnight, would cost me $7.99 per month. (With ads, Quibi drops to $4.99.) I walked a bridge from the past into the strange new world of Quibi: “Reno 911!” A typically uproarious parody of the show “Cops,” the mockumentary Comedy Central series dates to 2003. The 12-episode season that debuted recently on Quibi brought back all the regulars for shorter but still veryfunny installments. No doubt because I started with “Reno,” Quibi quickly steered me toward another comedy series, “Dummy,” starring the always-enjoyable Anna Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect”). So, um, “Dummy” — labeled a “raunchy” comedy by the platform — is unusual. Kendrick portrays Cody Heller, the real-life writer and creator of the series and the girlfriend of Dan Harmon, the co-creator of Adult Swim juggernaut “Rick and Morty.” In it, Cody meets Barbara (Meredith Hagner of “Search Party”), the lifesize doll owned by Dan (Donal Logue of “Gotham”) for .... reasons you probably can guess. “Dummy” is clever and hysterical, if also occasionally cringe-inducing. I’m really pleased to have seen it.
As they soon drive to a gathering at the home of her friends, we wonder how much we need to worry about their relationship. Initially, we think not that much, that this is a couple nearly half a decade into being with each other. They irritate each other, sure, but they still care about each other. And then, moments later, we watch them break up. Surprisingly and refreshingly, almost immediately after this tough moment is when “The Lovebirds” truly becomes a blast. A distracted Jibran hits a cyclist on the streets of New Orleans. The man declines help, collects himself quickly and pedals away. Next, another man (Paul Sparks of “Boardwalk Empire”) claiming to be a cop, commandeers their car, with them still inside it, and chases after the injured cyclist, saying he is a criminal he has been pursuing. Things only get wilder from there, with the freshly broken-up couple forced to work together the rest of the night to prove they have nothing to do with an increasingly complex criminal enterprise involving everything from murder to the blackmailing of a senator to an elaborate masquerade sex party. All the while, whether by themselves or around others, they banter and bicker. Because Rae and Nanjiani are so talented, this is somehow always fun — even as it frequently annoys characters dealing with them. Nanjiani, who for six seasons portrayed Dinesh on the recently concluded HBO comedy “Silicon Valley,” garnered well-deserved praise as the costar and -writer of the excellent 2017 romcom “The Big Sick,” inspired by an experience of him and his future wife, Emily V. Gordon. Showalter also was in the director’s chair for that one and obviously works well with Nanjiani. This new collaboration doesn’t attempt to reach the same emotional depths as “The Big Sick,” but, while fairly zany, “The Lovebirds” never takes the focus off the bond, however strained, shared by Jibran and Leilani. Both halves of this whole make bad decisions throughout the night and are subsequently supported by the other, even if there’s some grousing in the process. In front of the camera, Nanjiani doesn’t stray from what he does best, but his comic sensibilities work so well here. He is, as usual, hilarious. Meanwhile, Rae — creator and star of the acclaimed HBO comedy series “Insecure” — makes a strong case she should be getting more movie work.
Nanjiani doesn’t stray from what he does best, but his comic sensibilities work so well here. He is, as usual, hilarious.
Just as Nanjiani does with Jibran, she manages to make Leilani likable even as she’s laying into her partner — such as when, in the aforementioned argument about “The Amazing Race,” Leilani tells Jibran that documentaries “are just reality shows nobody watches!” Ouch. While lesser-known names, writers Aaron Abrams and Brandan Gall deserve a ton of credit for how well “The Lovebirds” works from beginning to end. So much of the banter of their lead characters — while entertaining on its own — pays off later in the movie in one way or another. It’s really nice work, and you’d never guess the scribes’ common bond is the NBC drama series “Blindspot,” where Abrams has had a recurring role and Gall has served as a producer. As much of the country works to at least partially reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, Netflix has just given you one more very good reason to stay in for the night.