The Big Sick
Composite Score: 85.13
Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Adeel Akhtar, Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, and Kurt Braunohler
Director: Michael Showalter
Writers: Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Biography
MPAA Rating: R for language including some sexual references
Box Office: $56.41 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
The Big Sick is the film from Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, based on the real-life events leading up to their marriage. The film explores the start of their relationship, complications due to Nanjiani’s Pakistani family, further complications due to Emily’s sudden illness and medically induced coma, and Kumail’s growing relationship with Emily’s parents as they walk through her illness together. It stars Nanjiani as himself and Zoe Kazan as Emily, along with Holly Hunter and Ray Romano as Emily’s parents Beth and Terry, and Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff as Kumail’s parents Azmat and Sharmeen. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, losing out to Get Out, and was included on AFI’s list of the ten best films of 2017, being celebrated for its innovative blend of romantic comedy and family drama.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
There is an argument to be made that The Big Sick feels too sanitized (or saccharine) to fully live up to its more dramatic aspects. As an autobiographical piece, we have to be aware of the slight lack of reliability from the film’s narrators (writers), and that comes across most glaringly in its friendly treatment of all of the hurdles facing their budding relationship. Since the audience likely knows how it all works out, the suspense takes a heavy hit that has to be overcome with subplots about Emily’s parents’ love life and Kumail’s desire to feature in the respected Montreal Comedy Festival, neither of which carries quite as much weight as the will-they-won’t-they that could have been were this a fictional tale. As heavy as its title and subject matter are, it never actually gets down into the grittiest levels of romantic dramedy that some films have done so successfully. Even the seeming drama of Kumail’s family rejecting him for dating a white girl ends up playing fairly light due to the actual lack of fallout in the film – his brother comes to see his show, and his parents see him off with food when he moves to New York – again a side effect of their eventual real-life acceptance of the pair’s relationship and marriage. Its drama hobbles a bit, but that’s not quite enough to actually bring this film all the way down.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
For me, The Big Sick still stands out as one of the better romantic comedies of the century so far. The humor is perhaps more self-aware than typical because of the film’s nature as a true story about the writers, but I also think that’s what endears it so much to the audience. It’s a rom com that feels authentic, something rarely seen in the modern day. Is it all quite unbelievable? Sure, and that’s what makes it all the better because of how generally true the situations are. It touches on that highlight of stand-up comedy (fitting for the film) that points out the ridiculousness of real life, getting the audience to laugh because they know that it’s true even if they hate to admit it. It’s well-accomplished in this particular film and elevated even further through the vulnerability on display from the screenwriting pair. It’s that vulnerability that gives the film weight even when we know how it will all turn out. Romantic comedies rarely play in the space of biopic or “based on a true story”, so the truth of this story makes the comedy and drama that much more moving for the audience.
In exploring the genre’s capability to tell true stories, The Big Sick elevates romantic comedy to a truly moving place in showcasing its writers’ relationship and its rocky beginnings in fully satisfying fashion, earning it recognition as one of the Greatest Films of All Time. Some of the drama might be reduced a bit from knowing that the film is autobiographical, but the unbelievably real story still resonates with audiences thanks to its moments of honesty. It is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video for anyone wanting to watch a really fun rom com this weekend.
