Review of The Big Sick (2017) by Dave M — 28 Sep 2017

Kumail Nanjiani is a successful stand-up comedian and comic actor (on television and in the movies) and also a writer and podcast host, but after his 2017 romantic comedy, "The Big Sick" (R, 2:00), he may be as famous for his personal life as anything else. Never mind that, before 2017, he already had about 60 acting credits on his resume, dating back to appearing in an SNL sketch in 2008. Since then, he had small roles in films like "Hot Tub Time Machine 2", "Hello, My Name is Doris", "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" and "Fist Fight". He also did a mixture of single appearances and recurring characters in TV series which included "Veep", "Drunk History" and "Garfield and Oates". Along the way, he started getting regular roles in shows like the Emmy Award-winning "Portlandia" and the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated "Silicon Valley". Nanjiani's comedy has always sprung mostly from his ethnic background as a Pakistani-American and former Muslim, but he used his first opportunity to co-write and star in a feature film to get even more personal and do a semi-autobiographical movie about the difficult and comedic circumstances surrounding his relationship with an American woman named Emily V. Gordon.

Nanjiani plays himself as a stand-up comedian in Chicago. He's having some success (with the help of some Uber driving on the side), but his very traditional Pakistani-American Muslim family wishes he would do something else with his life - like becoming a doctor or a lawyer - and get married. He has his own place (well, one he shares with a fellow comedian played by Kurt Braunohler), but he regularly eats dinner at his family's home, with his brother, Naveed (Adeel Akhtar) and Naveed's wife, Fatima (Shenaz Treasury), and Naveed and Kumail's parents, Azmat (Anupam Kher) and Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff). At many of those meals, an eligible young Pakistani woman "shows up" to have dinner with the family. Kumail politely tolerates his family's match-making, but he's not interested in any of the women whom his mother invites over. After each of these dinners, he is given a picture of that evening's potential mate and a piece of paper listing her desirable qualities, which he takes home and tosses in a cigar box where they are not seen again, until Kumail opens the box to add the next "resume" to the pile.

At one of Kumail's comedy club appearances, he meets an American girl named Emily (Zoe Kazan). Although neither are looking to start dating anyone, they start spending more and more time together and they fall in love. What Emily doesn't know is that no one else knows about their relationship. When she looks inside that cigar box in Kumail's bedroom and finds out that Kumail hasn't even told his family about her, she asks him if he can imagine them having a future together. It's a question that Kumail can't answer, so Emily breaks up with him. But soon after, Kumail gets a call from one of Emily's friends saying that Emily is sick and has been admitted to the hospital. He's conflicted, but he goes to her. Although she's not happy to see him, a doctor refers to Kumail as Emily's husband and gets him to sign off on placing Emily in a medically-induced coma, a move necessary to treat an aggressive lung infection.

Emily's parents, Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano), show up at Emily's bedside the next morning and the whole situation goes from highly unusual to extremely awkward. Beth and Terry know about their daughter's relationship with Kumail and how it ended. Beth makes it very clear that Kumail is unwelcome at Emily's bedside, yet he remains in the hospital waiting room anyway. As Kumail, Terry and Beth wait for news of Emily's condition, Terry eventually starts talking with Kumail... and Beth reluctantly tolerates his presence. Through the long hours and days that the three of them end up spending together, they actually start getting along... but also disagreeing about decisions regarding Emily's care. And as Kumail is trying to navigate a tense relationship with Emily's parents and dealing with her illness, disagreements over the direction of Kumail's life come to a head between him and his parents, and he's also struggling, along with his fellow comedians (played by Bo Burnham and SNL's Aidy Bryant), to earn a spot in the upcoming Montreal Comedy Festival. That's a lot for one guy to handle.

"The Big Sick" is an enjoyable and especially poignant romantic comedy. Besides the unusual situation in which Kumail finds himself regarding Emily (AND her parents!), his professional struggles add breadth to the story, while his relationship with his parents (and the cultural and religious issues that raises) adds depth. The film reminds me of two very good films, the 2004 Bollywood-style drama "Bride & Prejudice" and the 1995 Sandra Bullock rom-com "While You Were Sleeping", but this one has even more to say and features even better acting. Nanjiani is both funny and sympathetic and Kazan's character is adorable, strong, independent and intelligent. And the talented actors who play each set of parents are great in their roles. Director Michael Showalter (who directed the "Red Hot American Summer" movies and "Hello, My Name is Doris") nicely balances the film's humor with its drama and effectively blends the various stories. This movie is too sweet, funny and deep to miss. "A-".