Love Birds (Rialto)

Directed: Paul Murphy

Starring: Rhys Darby, Sally Hawkins, Faye Smythe, Craig Hall.

Having taken a week off from reviews to try to cope with the horror that was the Christchurch earthquake (a place I had called home for the last year), I was seeking something to take my mind off current events for an hour for two. ‘Love Birds' I had been looking forward to – not because I like romantic comedies but because I wanted to see Rhys Darby become a romantic lead after speaking to him last month.

As my female flatmate and I headed off to the movie, I couldn't help thinking of about what she had said: 'I don't know if it will be good, but at least it will be cute” – this really does sum up the whole film.

Let me reiterate: I do NOT like romantic comedies, so I am the most cynical judge of these films. The plot, for example, is nothing shy of cliché. Doug (Darby) just got ruthlessly dumped by his girlfriend of two years Susan (Smythe) and accused of being someone with no goals in life. Feeling lost in life, an unexpected visitor arrives in his lap – well, his gutter – in the form of a shelduck with an attitude. It seems the relationship with the shelduck is more than just a casual friendship as he learns about himself and how to find love again.

Like I said, cliché. Perhaps a well-executed cliché though. The script isn't Oscar award winning, but then again no romantic comedy is. The film is really driven by Rhys Darby and the duck. Darby certainly does move beyond his Flight of the Conchords days, but he doesn't go ‘full-romantic'. You can feel his more awkward characters (think Norm from Yes Man) nudging him from the sidelines for a bit of attention and every now and then they burst out.

As the title suggests, the ‘love bird' – Pierre the shelduck – is the central character in this film, and a good thing too because he is so personable. His comedic timing, if you can call it that, is spot on with every quack and waddle done to punctuate Darby's words as any classic comedy duo would.

Sally Hawkins is a sweetie, and I like her quirky British charm. And that's about all I have to say. I have seen her in more ground-breaking performances such as Happy-Go-Lucky where she grabbed international attention, and a shadow was really cast over with Darby and the duck holding the spotlight.

Note to any Queen fans: Expect to sing along. The soundtrack is like an ode to Queen, including more unknown tracks such as ‘Princes of the Universe'. I was in heaven.

After ‘The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell', New Zealand film has kicked the year off with a good start proving our quirky humour can be appealing (My Wedding and Other Secrets to come should provide some multi-cultural humour).

While this one falls more into the traditional type of Hollywood genre, only a Kiwi would think of having a man bond with a duck.