Love Birds (2011)

How sad is this?

Crappy film

As Good As It Gets

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Two strong points: Rhys Darby doesn't try too hard to be funny the whole time and the duck is a real duck (though the sounds have been pitched and timed to fit nicely into the story line, as does the Queen soundtrack). Rhys thought he had a good life, till his girl walked out on him. She is clearly ambitious and thought the fact he was living in his parents' house (even though it's his and well located) showed he wouldn't offer her the life she craved. And with the perfect looks for a trophy wife you'd think she'd have moved on from there. Yet her attempt to catch his poseur friend is treated by him as a nice one-night stand (shortly before he goes broke) and then she wants to get back with Rhys and train him to satisfy her needs - is there such a shortage of upwardly mobile materially driven yuppies in Auckland, indeed NZ? Well good for you guys, you obviously have better values in life and that's what this film is about. At the beginning we saw a pair of Shelducks (that bond for life, we are told) being shot at. One of them lands on Rhys' roof, with a damaged wing, which starts a relationship that leads to Rhys broaden his perspectives. Part of that process leads him to meet zoologist Sally Hawking. Who has a son by her deceased former husband, a boy who is in no hurry to see his father replaced, least of all by the man who had treated him badly when he accused him of stealing the duck from the zoo. You can see where this is all headed and I can understand why Sally reacted badly when told Rhys had a dinner date with his ex. But heck, a reunion was the only thing he could dream of after she'd ditched him, and Sally's son did seem to be a big barrier to taking that relationship any further. But anyway, love conquers all, even the damaged wing of a bird we were told would never fly again. Maybe Rhys and the Shelduck weren't so different after all!

OK I'm gonna start by confirming that this movie does have rhys darby in it, a good and pure man. by default it's a good movie for this reason, but it was actually kind of a good movie in other ways too. first of all the colours are very nice and new zealand is beautiful, and the one zoo keeper friend of holly's really turns out a look every time she's on screen which u don't really expect to see in a movie like this that feels kind of like it's aimed at 30 yr olds. I love dougs mates too his little squad is so fun nd the fact that they call him flash bc his last names gordon and he loves queen is a wonderful touch!!/! + when they won trivia I was literally screaming. I was SO glad they cleared up that NT 7 stuff bc yeah I immediately looked it up but if they hadn't addressed it I would probably have been like OK this is a scary and terrible movie. anyway yeah it's pretty funny and the scenery is nice and there's a duck, like to summarise if you came to watch rhys darby have convos with a duck you won't be disappointed but keep in mind other stuff does happen too and some of its sad but mostly it's good and the last scene is amazing.

At the end of this movie I realised my face was tired from smiling so hard. It was a fun movie with plenty of laughs. Especially funny was the trip to the bird sanctuary and the lip-synched end credits. The romance unfolded slowly and sweetly and realistically and the movie managed to make me care about the characters and hope things would work out for them. The duck - sorry Shelduck - in the movie was very cute and not at all annoying like I had feared it might be. And who couldn't resist a duck who likes listening to Queen music? While the lead actor Rhys Darby is usually a comedian, I thought his acting and screen presence was up to the challenge of this feature length film.

I just saw this film and have to say that i was surprised and warmed by the kind of films they are making in New Zealand.As a European i had no idea what to expect (from New Zealand) coming into the film. Its not perfect, but in the end i didn't care, for i laughed, had a tear in my eye at times and had an all round good time. The performances are strong from both Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby and up and coming English star Sally Hawkins, as well as strong back up performances from Emily Barclay and veteran Aussie Bryan Brown.The real treat however for music lovers is the soundtrack provided courtesy of rock legends Queen. There was around 9 or 10 of Queen's greatest tracks in the film including 'Somebody to Love', 'Bicycle Race', 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'.As i said, its not perfect. But you know what, you wont care. Its just a good old fashioned movie of the type that we need more of. Overall this is a very sweet film with a difference and shows that New Zealand cinema is unique, alive and well.8/10