Film Review: Love Birds

I've got a lot of time for Rhys Darby. Like most people, I first saw him in the excellent Flight Of The Conchords (and when I say excellent, I mean the first season only, the second one went off the boil quite a bit) as the bands incompetent manager Murray.

Since then he had a great supporting role in Jim Carrey vehicle Yes Man (a film I still really like), and has done his stand-up tour around the world (in fact, I'll be seeing him in Ipswich in July) and has written a book. He's also found time for more movies, including Love Birds.

Darby plays Doug, who after his self-obsessed girlfriend Sarah (Faye Smythe) dumps him, finds himself nurturing an injured duck that runs into his garden. Not knowing what to do with the wounded quacker, he meets zoo veterinarian Holly (Sally Hawkins), and the two start a relationship that has to overcome all the usual hurdles you'd find in a film like this - the child who doesn't want a new Dad, the ex coming back on the scene, and some that are not, the trials and tribulations of looking after a duck called Pierre.

There's a lot to like about Love Birds. The two leads are great, both separately and together, and have a really good chemistry with each other, and Doug's relationship with Pierre is equally sweet, although that gets a bit far-fetched on one or two occasions (I'll come back to that later), and there's some good comedy moments to be had, mostly coming from Darby, obviously.

But that about does it for the plus points, unfortunately. The plot in romantic comedies are never going to be especially complex, but when you're watching a film with people and everyone is calling what is going to happen later, you know your film is a little too formulaic.

The supporting cast is pretty poor also. Doug's workmates are set up to be comic relief, but when you have someone like Rhys Darby supplying the laughs already, it just doesn't work. And the character of Sarah's friend Brenda (Emily Barclay) is so one dimensional, that all she talks about is relationships and/or sex. She literally has nothing else to say.

As I mentioned earlier, things do get a bit silly as the film progresses. A scene where Doug has to chase his car as it is being towed away as Pierre is inside seems almost as if it was shot just so it include 'Bicycle Race' by Queen, who contribute a lot to the soundtrack, with varying degrees of success.

Also a scene where Doug, who has lost Pierre, opens his car doors and blasts out 'Who Wants To Live Forever', again by Queen, in order to find him is pretty ludicrous.

Another thing that started to grate on me was how similar the words Doug and duck were. In a New Zealand accent they sound quite similar, surely they could have given Darby's character a name that didn't sound like duck (and things are made worse when another character says Dad in a thick NZ accent, that sounds like Doug and duck too!)

If you're a fan of Darby, it's worth a one time only watch, but there's a lot better out there if you are looking for an original rom-com.

**
Likable enough lead characters, a nice performance from Rhys Darby and the odd amusing moment throughout, but overall Love Birds is a generic, predictable, poorly written in places romantic comedy, albeit with an adorable duck thrown in.