The Big Sick Review

R: Language Including Some Sexual References

Amazon Studios, Lionsgate, FilmNation Entertainment, Apatow Productions

2 Hrs and 4 Minutes

Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Kurt Braunohler, Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant

REVIEW: Everybody loves a romance story but what if the romance was a true story written by the lovers that got together. The movie is the true love story of Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordan, written by Kumail and Emily, and starring Kumail and Zoe Kazan (who slightly looks like Emily) sooo…yeah! It is a love story nobody has ever heard before and honestly it may be one of best masterpieces this year has to offer.

Bickering parents and a serious health scare threaten the budding relationship between a Pakistani stand-up comic (Kumail Nanjiani) and his American girlfriend (Zoe Kazan).

THE GOOD: Before I used to think The King of Comedy was the best film about comedians, but then Don't Think Twice came out, and now we have The Big Sick a film that personally blows every other comedy about comedians out of the water. 

This movie makes you appreciate the things that you would never expect to appreciate before such as:

• Judd Apatow is one of the best and selfless producers out there. From Girls to Crashing to Trainwreck and so much more. Because of Apatow’s productions, he allows under-appreciated comedians shine in ways you’ve never seen before.  If you are a comedic actor and you are close to him, he will let you shine with a film/show to express your personal stories. He will let your voice be heard and share your story. The people he let shine in the limelight are amazing and all have fantastic stories to share. The Big Sick is to Kumail Nujani and Emily Gordon as Trainwreck is to Amy Schumer.

• I missed Ray Romano. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this movie made me realized I missed Ray Romano. Not just his voice but his face as well. It's a pleasant surprise to see Ray Romano in this because he’s lovably charming. I didn’t love Ray Romano like this since I used to watch reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond. Once Emily’s parents Terry and Beth are introduced into the story when she goes into her coma, they unexpectedly meet Kumail in arguably the worst way any parents can meet their daughter’s boyfriend. They slowly resent him at first, but he and his wife played by Holly Hunter begin to open up towards him as they go through this difficult time together. Romano and Holly Hunter have amazing chemistry with each other as you can tell they are parents who have been together for a long time but also have some issues as a couple.  When it comes to the comedy Romano gets the most laughs because of his deadpan delivery. Though this is the reason why we love Romano, he still proves to be a damn good actor. There’s a scene in Kumail’s bedroom where Terry and Kumail share a moment as Terry expresses his relationship towards Beth and Romano controls that scene to a point I started to get chest pains from laughing too hard. That scene makes you fully realize that Ray Romano needs to come back to TV and Film and not in another fucking Ice Age movie. This movie is proof that Ray Romano is a comedic treasure and we don’t fully appreciate that. 

And most of all this movie proves that Kumail Nanjiani is more than Dinesh Chugtai from Silicon Valley. Though this movie is about Kumail and Emily’s romance, this is Kumail’s movie especially when Emily is in her coma. Kumail plays himself and it's the side of him that we’ve both never seen before or never expected to see. I’ve never watched Silicon Valley, I saw him in small roles in other projects, and heard him in several episodes of Game Grumps so I never expected much. But to co-write write and star in one of the most honest and moving personal stories I’ve ever seen this year that makes him automatically in my book of favorite people.

Some people may joke, “Oh this is like Aziz Ansari’s Master of None but in feature-length form.” No, it is not it's something much more than that. We follow Kumail from beginning to end and because of this we learn this is a man who struggles to separate his family life by abiding by their Pakistani and his personal life because he knows if they ever collide, all hell will break loose. Aziz’s series shows his family approves of his life and the things that he does. Kumail’s family doesn’t. He spends the majority of the movie hiding his personal life from his family and his family life from his girlfriend. You know that both lives mean the world to him,  and doesn't want to lose anyone that he loves. Yes, this is somewhat a plot similar to The Namesake, but the due to its detailed writing and uncontrollably hysterical lines of dialogue its able to stand out as its own original story.

If you don’t know about Kumail Nanjiani or any of his works, this movie doesn’t only explain where he came from, but it also expresses who he is and how he lives his life. The way the movie plays out, not only do you get to know Nanjiani, but you get to relate to him. I know many people who went through the same struggle he went through and are still going through it to this day. There are elements of his life that so many people can see themselves in and you perfectly get the full dimensional version of Kumail, his family, Emily, and her family. You like every character introduced into this movie as we see where every person is coming from. You feel for everyone and the internal struggle they all go through. There’s a scene where the situation that Kumail goes through is so depressing, there are two sequences to where he breaks. The first time he breaks has you in tears, but the second time is played for laughs but surprisingly will also leave you in tears. It is a sequence that is heartbreaking and hysterical at the same time to which you will both laugh and cry. Not laugh until you cry, but have you simultaneously laugh and cry.

The Big Sick is a film that defines what screenwriting should be. Screenwriting should be about your voice and who you are as not just a writer but as also as a person. The film is directed by Michael Showalter and he does a great job transitioning this couple’s love story from page to screen as everyone gives nothing but great performances, but for all I know, this is Kumail’s movie and this is Emily’s movie. Movies like this are an inspiration for screenwriters to keep writing and expressing their story and expressing their voice.

THE BAD: The movie does fall into clichéd romantic tropes that you see from other films of this genre, but honestly this is the first time I saw where everyone’s action and decision is humanized, rationalized, and justified not for the sake of comedy or story but for character.

LAST STATEMENT: Written with such personal honesty that balances comedy and drama oh so perfectly and strong performances from everyone, The Big Sick isn’t just a romantic comedy that defines its genre but a movie that defines the art of screenwriting and what romance stories should be.

This is relatively early to express this rating, but from what I witnessed with this film and how much it dimensional characters that it expressed, I feel justified to do this

Rating: 6/5 | 100%

Super Scene: Terry and Kumail share an awkward heart to heart.