The Big Sick

Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Adeel Akhtar, Bo Burnham, David Alan Grier
Directed by: Michael Showalter
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary:A comedian (Kumail Nanjiani) falls in love with a beautiful girl (Zoe Kazan) but their different cultural backgrounds and families threaten to ruin their relationship.

Review:

Tim: The Big Sick is a funny, unique, heartwarming movie that feels so authentic, partially because it's based on the real-life story of writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. It's the kind of movie you just have fun watching. It might just miss out on greatness, but it's easily one of the better romantic dramedies I've seen in a long time. It's the kind of movie you recommend to others because you know just about everyone will enjoy it.

The film is really about two people who fall in love, have relationship issues, break up, and then potentially get back together. The heart of the story is something we've seen hundreds and hundreds of times. However, the package is different and unique. It's those elements that help differentiate this film. the most obvious one is the clash of different cultures between the two leads. You have Nanjiani's Pakistani family, which he gently laughs at while recognizing the positive aspects of his cultural heritage. That background clashes with the white, Midwest background of Zoe Kazan's family. Culture clashes are also not unique, but this one felt timely and important. It gives the movie a nice, different flavor. I loved that the lead in this film was a Pakistani man. Given the landscape of the United States in this horrendous Trump administration, it was empowering and important to see a romantic comedy/drama about a Pakastani man in America. I loved that aspect of the film and I love how that background was incorporated into the story. It was wonderful.

It's also interesting to see a love story where the female lead spends most of the film in a coma. That is extremely unexpected and yet it works in the context of this film. Can you have a love story where the deepest connections are made while one person is unconscious? I'd think no, but this film proves you can. Again, it takes the classic romantic story line and does something very different with it (I guess it helps that this is based on a true story, but still, evaluating this purely as a piece of entertainment, it's a nice differentiator). I also enjoyed the fact that the main character is a comedian. There's been quite a few movies over the years about comedians, but it's not like it was been overplayed. It's always kind of fun and it helps to explain all the witty dialogue in the movie. It was interesting to get a peek at the world of struggling comedians and it again added a nice dynamic to the film.

I have to give Nanjiani great credit for a strong performance here. While he's technically playing himself (which maybe lowers some praise for his authentic portrayal), he still gives a good performance. He's playing himself, but his acting was really strong. Zoe Kazan isn't bad, but she gets less time than you'd expect. I do have to mention that the supporting cast is actually among the best aspects of the film. Holly Hunter and Ray Romano completely steal the show as Kazan's parents. Their performance is funny and believable. They felt realistic and it was hard to take your eyes off of them. I criticize a lot of movies because they needed stronger performances from the supporting cast- the exact opposite is true here. The supporting cast steals most of the scenes they are in and they make this movie significantly better. I heard a lot of early season award buzz for Holly Hunter and she certainly deserves all the acclaim. It's a wonderful Supporting performance I hope she wins a lot of awards. Romano has gotten less praise, but I thought he was really, really good as well. I enjoyed both of them.

It's a little hard to explain why I felt like the movie just missed out on greatness. I guess I wasn't quite as emotionally invested in the story as I would have liked. Some of this may be that we already knew the end of the film before it started- we know Nanjiani and Gordon got married and wrote the screenplay together. That blunts some of the uncertainty we might have otherwise felt, which maybe detracts a bit from the emotional side. The middle of the film also felt a bit soggy in places. Still, I'm not trying to be overly harsh, I still thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

I do have to give this movie credit for delivering the funniest 9/11 joke I have ever heard. I honestly would never have expected to laugh at a 9/11 joke. Even 16 years later, the memory of that horrible day is seared into my brain. There's nothing funny about 9/11... and yet Nanjiani pulls off the funniest joke of the film. It was like watching a gymnast nail the landing. He made a funny 9/11 joke and I'm still in awe of him pulling that off.

The Big Sick is a funny, unique, entertaining romantic dramedy. I'd highly recommend it, as it was one of the more fun experiences I had at the movies this year.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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