Fit for the birds, and people too
DESPITE THEIR SEEMING LIGHTNESS, OR MAYBE because of it, screwball comedies are complicated to make. It’s much easier for Hollywood to throw pots of money at an action picture than to find two actors with great chemistry who can sustain a hamster-wheeling plot for 90 minutes. Little wonder the screwball comedy is practically a lost genre.
That’s why in all its harebrained glory, is such a delight. The plot is dumb—but then, it’s just a conveyor belt for the performers’ charm. Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae play Jibran and Leilani, a New Orleans couple who, when we first meet them, are falling deeply and convincingly in love. That part lasts for Referring to the social-justice documentaries he makes for a living, she shoots back, “They’re just reality shows that no one watches.” The ping-ponging rhythm of their argument is so enjoyable that you don’t really worry they might be on the skids—until, as they’re driving to a party Jibran doesn’t want to go to, the fight takes some serious wrong turns. The cutting accusations fly. Their faces, previously animated by low-grade annoyance, are now blank with pain. On the spot, they decide to break up.
