Review of The Big Sick (2017) by Lenard W — 11 Sep 2017

Everyone makes choices about their life. They can follow in the footsteps of their parents, or they can forge their own path. In love, they have this choice as well. Kumail comes from a culture where you marry who your parents tell you and keep the tradition alive.

Kumail wants to find his own love and to be a successful stand-up comedian. One night, he meets this white graduate student and talks her up at the bar after the show. In the tradition of thousands of romantic comedies, they have a falling out.

But in this dramedy, the female develops an illness and ends up in a coma. So, instead of that romantic montage of happy times, Kumail has to learn to love her while she is in a hospital and hanging out with her parents.

The parents are played by the MVPs of the film, Ray Romano as the clueless schlubby husband who kind of likes the guy and Holly Hunter as the little spitfire she always plays. Eventually, Kumail chooses to alienate himself from his family for Emily, who dumps him a second time when she wakes up.

Not your normal comedy, but slowly becoming a motif for producer Judd Apatow who is more interested in human psychology than comedy.