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It appears to be impossible—too melodramatic, too crazy—but it is true nonetheless. As his then-girlfriend Emily V. Gordon lay unconscious in a coma, actor and writer Kumail Nanjiani fell in love with her and later married her. Additionally, it appears impossible that such a story would make for an entertaining comedy, but that is exactly what “The Big Sick” is, and it is also so much more than that.
The film, directed by Michael Showalter, defies easy categorization. You could categorize it as a romantic comedy, and that would be accurate because there are elements of both romance and comedy throughout the film. Using clashes across cultures and generations as a springboard for laughs that are specific to Nanjiani’s experience while also resonating with audiences around the world. As well as being a sharply insightful exploration of how we live now, the Pakistan-born comic who stars as himself must deal with racism that is both casual and pointed in “The Big Sick.”
However, the film’s central plot point is a potentially fatal illness (hence the title), which provides not only drama and catharsis but also dark humor, as well as the opportunity for the film’s characters to grow and mature in ways that feel substantial and real.
When you’re dealing with so many different kinds of movies all at once, it takes a lot of skill for Showalter—who is working from a screenplay written by Nanjiani and his wife, Gordon—to get his arms around everything. Following up on his heartbreakingly sweet 2015 dramedy “Hello, My Name Is Doris,” Showalter manages to navigate difficult tonal shifts with grace once more. He keeps finding that sweet spot where he can make people laugh until they cry, and he does so in the most unlikely of places.
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All of this, however, begins with the script. Nanjiani and Gordon have taken the risk of exposing themselves in this film, providing us with an intimate glimpse into a traumatic and frightening period in their respective lives. They infuse “The Big Sick” with such an unflinching honesty, however, that it never comes across as a self-indulgent exercise in self-pity. Although the events that ultimately brought the two together were extreme, the portrayal of them is always accurate.
And Nanjiani’s prominent role in the film is a critical component of the audience’s emotional connection to the story. Without even knowing that “The Big Sick” was based on his real-life courtship, Kumail Nanjiani exudes an authenticity and a directness that are extremely appealing to an audience of all ages. On HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” he is a member of the ensemble cast, and he has appeared in a number of supporting film roles in recent years, most notably as a massage therapist in last summer’s “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” which garnered a lot of attention. However, this will propel him to stardom, as it should.
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To make ends meet, Kumail is forced to work as an Uber driver by day and as a stand-up comedian by night in “The Big Sick,” which premieres on Netflix on September 14. He and his needy roommate, Chris, share an air mattress in a Chicago apartment that’s a notch above college squalor, but it’s still far from luxurious (Kurt Braunohler). In a comedy club one night, he strikes up a conversation with the intelligent and beautiful Emily (Zoe Kazan), who had unintentionally heckled him during his performance. As soon as they meet, Kazan and Nanjiani have a sparking chemistry; their sweet and easy banter only grows more enjoyable as their time together progresses.
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It is clear that they are falling for each other, but they maintain their non-dating status with deadpan humor throughout the episode. As a graduate student who hopes to work in the field of psychotherapy, Emily is anything but a cutesy rom-com heroine looking for approval: “I love it when men test me on my taste,” she exclaims when Kumail quizzes her on her favorite movies. Kazan’s intuition and presence are so strong that even though her character is lying in a hospital bed for the majority of the film’s middle section, you can still feel her presence and influence.
Before that, however, we get a glimpse into Kumail’s home life with his family, who are devout Muslims who are adamant about arranging a marriage for him. His older brother, Naveed (Adeel Akhtar), is married and appears to be content with his life. In the end, his parents (Bollywood legend Anupam Kher and theater veteran Zenobia Shroff, both of whom are beautiful) just want him to be happy as long as he continues their cultural traditions. In between his Pakistani and American identities, between his religious beliefs and agnosticism, Kumail is unsure of himself—but he knows he can’t tell his family about the white woman who has grown to be so important to him—and he is determined not to tell his family about the white woman.
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And then Emily becomes ill, suffering from a sudden and unexplained illness that forces doctors to place her in a medically-induced coma for the rest of her life. Consequently, we are introduced to Kumail’s parents, the nerdy, down-to-Earth Terry (Ray Romano) and the feisty, no-nonsense Beth (Holly Hunter), and Kumail is placed in the uncomfortable position of getting to know them while in desperate need of their assistance. Again, this may not appear to be a source of amusement. However, the way Nanjiani, Romano, and Hunter navigate their characters’ daily highs and lows—as well as the way they dance around each other—is both pitch perfect and consistently surprising at the same time. Despite the fact that Romano is excellent in this unusually dramatic role, Hunter is simply a ferocious force of nature, channeling both the anger and the pathos of this frustrated and terrified mother.
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Detail-oriented elements in the hospital scenes help them come to life, such as the bright quilt from Emily’s childhood bedroom that her mother brings from North Carolina to cover her while she is in a comatose state, or the yacht rock hits blasting through tinny speakers in the bleak, cramped waiting room. Regardless of where you are, the situation would be hell no matter where you are, but such details heighten the characters’ sense of impending doom.
As a result, the only minor flaw is the length of the film’s running time. A Judd Apatow production, “The Big Sick” drags on a little longer than it should, much like a number of other films he’s been involved with over the years (“Funny People,” “This Is 40”). A little tightening, particularly toward the end, could have elevated a good film to truly excellent status.
Apatow, on the other hand, has a gift for spotting up-and-coming talent and using his considerable power to assist in developing it on the biggest stage and in front of the brightest lights. In the past, he’s done this with Lena Dunham (“Girls”) and Amy Schumer (“Trainwreck”), and now he’s done it with Kumail Nanjiani. We, on the other hand, are the ones who stand to gain the most.
For more personality quizzes check this: All Eyez On Me Quiz.
