Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae are doing the rom-com thing, and we're pretty here for it

Every now and again, a film project floats its way across our desk for which no reasonable response is possible, save one: “Hey, nice!” Such is the fate of The Lovebirds, a new romantic comedy set to star certified A.V. Club favorites Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani as a couple on the run. Toss in the fact that it’s being directed by Michael Showalter, who helmed Nanjiani’s Oscar-nominated The Big Sick, and we might even be tempted to upgrade this thing’s status to a “Hey, very nice!” instead. (Only time will tell.)

This is all per THR, which also includes a plot synopsis of the film, which sounds just a tad wackier than Nanjiani and Showalter’s last collaboration. To wit: The stars play a couple on the verge of a break-up, who end up embroiled in some sort of high-stakes mistaken identity murder shenanigans while working out their problems. And sure, that premise—penned by a variety of people involved, for some reason, in NBC’s tattoo conspiracy thriller Blindspot, including creator Martin Gero, writer Brendan Gall, and recurring actor Aaron Abrams—is pretty much exactly the same one used in the 2010 Steve Carell/Tina Fey vehicle Date Night. But on the other hand, both Nanjiani and Rae are absolute delights on their respective HBO shows, are hilarious everywhere else, and we’re pretty sure they’re going to end up having a lot of funny banter together while working out their problems (and also avoiding getting murdered). We’re real suckers for a good old-fashioned bit of fast-talking, emotionally vulnerable murder-banter, friends; we’re pretty unabashedly here for this one, at least so far.