Review of The Big Sick (2017) by V H — 11 Sep 2017

Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani who plays Dinesh on "Silicon Valley") is a Pakistani-born stand-up comedian/Uber driver living in Chicago. One night he meets a grad student named Emily (Zoe Kazan) at one of his shows and the two begin a very charming, albeit tentative relationship.

Unbeknownst to Emily, every Sunday afternoon, Kumail has lunch at his parents' house in the suburbs, during which a different female suitor always "just happens" to stop by bearing a glossy photo and resume touting her credentials as a future wife. Kumail's parents expect him to marry a fellow Pakistani and are trying their darndest to arrange it. Despite being Americanized in every other way, Kumail realizes marrying a white woman would lead to disownment.

Emily is none too pleased when she happens upon this information just as the relationship seems to be getting serious. But no sooner does she dump Kumail than she's stricken by a mysterious illness and has to be placed in a medically-induced coma, which has the surprising effect of making him realize how much he really likes her.

Enter Emily's quarrelsome parents, Terry and Beth (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter), who hate the ever-living crap out of Kumail for having hurt their daughter. The majority of the movie is about the relationships between Kumail, Terry, and Beth, each of whom cares more about Emily than about the other two.

As improbable as the whole medically-induced coma plot device sounds, it's based on something that actually happened to Kumail, the actor, and his real-life wife, Emily, who teamed up to write the screenplay.

As movies about critically ill people in comas go, I've got to say this is the funniest one I've ever seen, in large part due to Romano, who can apparently do more than play a beleaguered sportswriter.