17 Jun MatchFlick.com Review of Love Birds

Movie Review by Mike
June 17th, 2012

Why a Duck?

Favorite Movie Quote: “I’m just a man with a duck.”

This is about a man and his duck, and the strangest love triangle in movie history.

Doug (Rhys Darby, who is a dead ringer for Topher Grace), just got dumped by his girlfriend, Susan (the impossibly gorgeous Faye Smythe). This was his only love, the reason for his existence. In his distraught state, he hears a thump on his roof. It’s a duck, wounded and unable to fly. It immediately becomes a pain in the rear. He poops in his living room, he won’t leave him sleep, he won’t even let Doug take a bath alone. Desperate, he goes to an expert, a zoo handler, Holly (Sally Hawkins), and her associate, Brenda (Emily Barclay) for advice. While Holly is a little cool, Brenda knows they are a match, and does everything she can to get them together. They eventually get together, and things go swimmingly, until things go horribly wrong, as all Rom-Coms go, as Susan wants Doug back (no surprise). Will Doug stay with Holly, or leave her for Susan? And what about Pierre, his adopted duck?

Roll Credits.

LOVE BIRDS is a Rom-Com buddy movie that takes the love triangle and creates a quadrahedron. Doug loves Holly, Susan loves Doug, Craig loves Susan (who the heck is Craig? Doug’s best friend, of course!), and Pierre wants all the attention. Holly’s daughter, Taylor (Beck Taylor) adds to the mix as the son that hates Doug, and Gurneesh (Alvin Maharaj) Brent (Wesley Dowdell), and Kanga (David Fane) are on hand as Doug’s Greek Chorus, providing the commentary and physical comedy relief. The chemistry between Darby and Hawkins is organic; they are an easy couple and make the movie enjoyable. There is another romance story between Brent and Brenda, but really doesn’t develop into anything that interesting.

The last character in the movie is Queen. Like The GRADUATE, all the major activity and changes in mood is accented by a song from the band Queen. And like The GRADUATE, the songs fit the mood of the action. It gave the movie an immediate recognizability factor.

It is light fare, as most Rom-Coms go. No deaths, no major emotional drama, and you know from Frame One how things are going to turn out. That doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. For like most Rom-Coms, it is the journey, and not the beginning or end that makes the entertainment.

On my personal rating scale of with “5” being drop everything and see the movie now; if you’re female, bear the producers’ children and “0” being burn down the theater, murder the movie staff, and violate their dog, this movie earns a “4,” using my patented Bell Curve for B-Movies for Rom-Com. The British (okay, it’s a New Zealand film, but it still has an British feel) seem to get the Rom-Com formula right, better than the horrid American Rom-Coms, such as VALENTINE’S DAY and NEW YEAR’S DAY, or any other Rom-Com based on a holiday. The writing is intelligent, and you actually like the people in the movie. This reviewer is rating this a “Buy” for any Rom-Com fan, and a “Rent” for the rest of us. LOVE BIRDS is a hoot with a double Hollywood (or in this case Auckland) Ending.

Make it a Date Flick.

Oh, and stay for the music video at the end during the credits. It “ups” the Hoot Factor!

http://www.matchflick.com/movie-review/22767-16298