The Lovebirds

Cert 15; Netflix

Over four years, Leilani (Issa Rae) and Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) have gone from gooiest of love puppies to nearing a split. Just as the fragility of their relationship looks to be coming to a head, they find themselves accidental accomplices to a rather grisly murder.

Forced to think on their feet, the pair end up bickering their way through a long and eventful night as they try to find the killer, crack the conspiracy and clear their names. Not only are the police breathing down their necks, but so are the various grievances underpinning their rocky relationship.

It will come as a surprise to nobody that this Netflix production directed by Michael Showalter trades almost entirely in that brand of romantic action-comedy where the car chases and dust-ups become punctuated with inappropriately timed score-settling between the couple. Much of it just about passes muster too, primarily because Nanjiani (who did good work in Showalter’s previous feature outing, The Big Sick) and Rae have a little more chemistry than the sum of their parts would suggest.

The Lovebirds is a mildly effective retread of a well-worn formula that won’t trouble your thoughts for a second beyond the closing credits. And maybe that’s all we can ask of rom-coms right now.