Swanning round Italy like aspect characters from the second season of “The White Lotus,” well-to-do homosexual couple Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells) have determined the world is in opposition to them. As Individuals, they stay at a time in a rustic after they can legally get married, undertake and do just about every thing straight individuals can — however they’re additionally sufficiently old to recollect when that wasn’t the case, and they also anticipate rejection and homophobia at each flip. They’re ready for the worst, and by some means they entice it.

Loosely impressed by filmmakers Brian Crano and David Craig’s bumpy street to fatherhood, catty black comedy “I Don’t Perceive You” depicts a stretch in Dom and Cole’s relationship when every thing appears to be going their approach … till abruptly it doesn’t. Whereas celebrating their anniversary in Italy, the pair get the information that the newborn they’ve been so desperately making an attempt to manifest (one adoption already fell via) is about to be delivered. An outdated household buddy arranges for them to have an unique meal at an out-of-the-way restaurant. And so forth. La vita è bella.

As the holiday unfolds, what started as a sunny “Eat, Homosexual, Love” story takes a sequence of darkish turns. All of the sudden, lifeless our bodies are piling up and the couple can’t inform in the event that they’ve dodged a hate crime or perpetrated one on their hosts, who may hardly be nicer. And but, they stab the air with knives and say issues like, “You’re going to be dey-ud.” If you happen to’ve been persecuted your total life (as Dom and Cole really feel they’ve), it’s straightforward to misread such indicators. And since they’re oblivious to the native tradition and language, issues have a approach of escalating awfully quick.

Objectively talking, Dom and Cole are horrible individuals (in methods it could spoil the movie to disclose right here). In any case, “I Don’t Perceive You” isn’t involved with how these two is perhaps judged in a courtroom of regulation. Kroll and Rannells play the couple with a sort of us-against-the-world conviction that brings the viewers over to their aspect, even when it’s not all the time clear whether or not their panic assaults and little public shows of affection are meant to appear cute or cringey.

Like their protagonists, the writer-directors are additionally married, which implies the underlying anxieties are presumably autobiographical, albeit exaggerated. That’s one cause the film works: Issues spiral wildly uncontrolled for Dom and Cole, however the basis feels actual. These imperfect future dad and mom desire a child greater than something on this planet. That motivation preempts every thing else the world throws at them, from misunderstandings they select to learn as microaggressions — just like the lodge clerk who can’t course of why they’ve booked the honeymoon suite, and proceeds to make an enormous present of separating the beds — to extra specific threats.

En path to their dinner reservation, the couple steer the rental automobile down a personal driveway, getting caught in a ditch. When the surly landowner exhibits up with a shotgun, they assume the worst. It doesn’t assist that they didn’t study Italian (Dom gave Duolingo a attempt, however he can hardly talk). From the seems on their faces, we will inform what these two are considering: They’ve come this near being fathers, and now they’re going to wind up lifeless or deliveranced in some Italian backwater.

Thankfully, earlier than the alarmist pair have time to take motion, the brusque stranger drops them off on the restaurant. Perhaps the locals aren’t as hostile as they’d imagined. At this level, co-directors Crano and Craig calibrate the strain so issues may go both approach. Dom and Cole are instantly charmed by the country restaurateur, Francesca (“White Lotus” veteran Eleonora Romandini), although their imaginations begin to get the higher of them, misinterpreting their knife-wielding host and her macho son (Morgan Spector) as potential threats.

Tonally, “I Don’t Perceive You” has the twisted, expect-the-worst vibe of traditional Danny DeVito motion pictures (“Ruthless Folks” and “The Battle of the Roses” come to thoughts). However the script’s cynicism is generally superficial. In spite of everything, a pregnant stranger (Amanda Seyfried, who additionally starred in Crano’s brief “Canine Meals,” showing right here via a sequence of video calls) generously plans to reward them her fetus. And Francesca appears wildly enthusiastic to be internet hosting a homosexual couple, who characterize a happiness her personal son by no means skilled. If solely Dom and Cole may communicate her language — or learn the subtitles that present audiences what they’re lacking.

As an alternative, their fears kick in. This a part of the film, by which cross-cultural miscommunication devolves into mayhem, doesn’t actually work. The filmmakers acknowledge the way in which gays raised in much less accepting instances carry a sure wariness wherever they go, like a type of PTSD. However the farce feels compelled, to the extent {that a} much less excessive account of the administrators’ Italian anniversary journey — one with out the physique depend — may need been more practical. The film frames the couple’s actions as an indication of how badly they need to be dad and mom. That they’re allowed to be not simply imperfect however downright deranged is an indication of how far issues have come.