Michael Showalter
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Connections, in both directions
The only other film this comedy seems more aware of jabbing is Eyes Wide Shut, which happens to be one of the film’s more satisfying riffs.
It’s got elements of Date Night , Game Night and Eyes Wide Shut ; it even borrows a bit from Nanjiani’s 2019 action comedy Stuber .
Factoring in some of that need, "The Lovebirds" felt good...it's a fairly shallow, straight-forward and predictable romantic-action-comedy that works mostly as a distraction...but who couldn't use a bit of a distraction right now? Nanjiani and Rae play an on-the-rocks couple who break up, literally, at the exact moment they are sucked into a murder plot involving a "bicycle," a "mustache," several frat-boys and an underground "Eyes Wide Shut" sex cult made up of local politicians and influential citizens.
For reasons that are unclear their efforts to clear their names drop Jibran and Leilani into an "Eyes Wide Shut" situation that exists purely for the sake of existing.
From an Eyes Wide Shut-style secret society gathering to a frat party soundtracked by "Semi-Charmed Life," there's a predictability to the plot that's familiar without being totally tired.
Showalter is also a member of influential alt-comedy troupe The State, and The Lovebirds takes a brief detour into the surreal when Jibran and Leilani end up at an Eyes Wide Shut-style sex party, but the movie quickly pulls back from the weirdness and returns to conventional storytelling.
As a producer and writer he’s been involved in favorites such as “Freaks and Geeks,” “Anchorman,” “Superbad,” “Step Brothers,” “Girls,” and “The Big Sick.”
Over and over during the press tour for The Big Sick in 2017, I remember screenwriters Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon talking about how their producer Judd Apatow had kept hectoring them to make their script more real, more personal, to go with honesty over punchlines whenever in doubt.
Films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin or even recent comedies like The Big Sick tend to front load their first hours with their biggest laughs, so it’s initially a solid change of pace for the filmmakers to trust the audience’s patience and take a character-driven approach.
The concept may sound a little self-indulgent on its face, and those viewers who may question their overall interest in Davidson’s life story may scoff, but The King of Staten Island plays — if not quite as successfully — in the same confessional comedic territory as The Big Sick (another Apatow production!
I know this is supposed to be the Pete Davidson semi-autobiographical flick or whatever, in the same vein as Trainwreck or The Big Sick , but Trainwreck was Amy’s screenplay and The Big Sick was Kumail and Emily’s script.
It’s got elements of Date Night , Game Night and Eyes Wide Shut ; it even borrows a bit from Nanjiani’s 2019 action comedy Stuber .
But The Lovebirds reminded me pleasantly of 2018’s Game Night , in how it’s about ordinary people who get caught up in movie-movie mischief and violence, and how they play along with it even as they’re slightly horrified with themselves over it: Rae and Nanjiani work their everywoman and -man charm to the max.
The Lovebirds — initially slated to premiere at this spring's SXSW, then landing at Netflix after Paramount pulled it from theatrical release due to the novel coronavirus pandemic — is a high-concept absurdist comedy that sits comfortably alongside 2010's Date Night (starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell) or the more recent Game Night (starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams), another nocturnal whodunit.
The movie itself recalls 2018's Game Night in that it focuses on a couple who're having issues, only to find themselves swept up in a one-crazy-night adventure which forces them to be really honest with one another for the first time in a while.
Like 2018’s Game Night , we’re watching two very relatable people engage with one extremely unlikely situation.
“The Big Sick” plays like a feature-length prelude to what could have been “My Big Fat Pakistani Wedding,” but without the vital and vigorous vulgarity of Nia Vardalos’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” and with, instead, the sophistication and good taste apt for more educated viewers seeking indie-brand movies.
Nanjiani’s relationship with his fellow comedians (Aidy Bryant and Kurt Braunohler) brings to mind the group dynamics of Mike Birbiglia’s Don’t Think Twice, whereas his conflicts with his Pakistani family play like a less zany version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Of course, they've been a part of movies almost forever, from "The Jazz Singer" to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
As for the mention of this London neighborhood, it brings up the automatic thought of 1999's Notting Hill, amongst the few other movies in the rom-com genre to explore a romance through a lens in which one of the people in the relationship is world-famous (unfortunately, Marry Me tried to rip off this concept with much less success).
And there's something reminiscent of Knocked Up, albeit with darker circumstances, in how its male lead finds himself skipping right into the deep end of a relationship courtesy of an unexpected event.
You would have to dig back to movies like “Knocked Up,” or prehistoric relics like “The Graduate” to find romcoms that sent audiences home thinking they had just seen a movie that was funny and tender and true.
Not since the one-two punch of Knocked Up and Superbad has the Apatow formula paid greater dividends.
This is a feature of Apatow’s films (Knocked Up, This is 40), which are unfailingly honest about the ups and downs of marriage.
Director Michael Showalter (“Hello, My Name is Doris”), with an assist from producer Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up”) doesn’t exploit this; instead he portrays the families with depth and dimension.
It’s a glossier, more Hollywood affair, but The Big Sick does also reference the rough-and-ready, equally lovable British comedy East Is East (1999).
The subject matter mines the same territory as 2015’s home movie/documentary Meet The Patels, moving the immigrant family up from Gujarat to Muslim Pakistan.
The latter bit will come as no surprise to those who saw the crowd-pleasing documentary “Meet the Patels,” which similarly addressed the informal, family-driven dating services that often thrive in immigrant communities.
On the surface, there are a number of similarities to another film I loved, Meet the Patels .
The resulting movie, directed by Michael Showalter ("Hello My Name Is Doris"), hilariously explores the cultural obstacles presented not only by Nanjiani's family, who seem lifted from the "Meet the Patels" documentary, but Kumail's awkward bonding process with Emily's parents Beth and Terry Gardner (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano).
Nanjiani’s relationship with his fellow comedians (Aidy Bryant and Kurt Braunohler) brings to mind the group dynamics of Mike Birbiglia’s Don’t Think Twice, whereas his conflicts with his Pakistani family play like a less zany version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Aziz Ansari milks perceptive humor out of a similar identity crisis in “Masters of None,” and Kumail’s story also mines warm communal vibes and caustic humor specific to the standup scene that Mike Birbiglia probed in “Don’t Think Twice.”
Meanwhile, his stand-up career takes off, and Apatow lovingly captures the behind-the-scenes world of stand-up life in a way that recalls Mike Birbiglia ’s “Don’t Think Twice.”
The girlfriend-in-a-coma theme is a familiar one, but unlike Pedro Almodóvar’s rhapsodic dramatic comedy Talk to Her , the medical crisis here is harrowing.
But first—in a vague echo of the quasi-classic comedy “While You Were Sleeping”—Emily will be put in a medically induced coma so her infection can be treated.
Like a weird, wonderful cross between “Amour” and “While You Were Sleeping,” this alternately hilarious and wrenching portrayal of commitment threads a whisper-thin needle between candor and cathartic laughs, gliding from grim hospital vigils one minute and into antic screwball family dynamics the next.
For Emily, it’s The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
Those who know the joys of Nanjiani and Gordon will be satisfied, as they’ve channeled their enviable and geeky romance into a quirky love story that folds in The X-Files, Night of the Living Dead and The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
Certainly, there is nothing here to match the crisp definition of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, who, in “Lost in Translation” (2003), stood out so clearly, and with such a funky need for one another, against the jet-lagged atmosphere.
It’s a story in a classic genre, that of the first talking picture, “The Jazz Singer,” from 1927—the son of a traditional immigrant family who defies his parents’ orders, follows his own path in life, and is ostracized from the family and the community alike.
Of course, they've been a part of movies almost forever, from "The Jazz Singer" to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)
Directed by Susan Johnson
influenced The Idea of You (2024)
Themes
The Idea of You may, at first, appear like the run-of-the-mill streaming romance movie—guess again. The film does possess some of those cheesy, simple qualities, like a gonzo premise and a handful of hokey dialogue. But this isn’t a copy-paste, low-budget romantic comedy; this stand-out is the most pleasant surprise since 2018’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
From “Annie Hall” to “When Harry Met Sally …” to “Four Weddings and a Funeral” to “500 Days of Summer,” the most treasured modern rom-coms stay with us because through all the laugh-out-loud moments and the absurd predicaments and the familiar meet-cutes and the break-ups and the reconciliations, there’s a ring of authenticity to the writing and the directing, and of course the performances.
Nanjiani has spoken of his love for "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and his respect for the writer Richard Curtis (as well as Hugh Grant -- Kumail displays a high school photo of his poofy Grant-inspired hair in the film).
He’s endearingly aloof but always surprising; he even raises a touching defense of that Internet-hated classic “Forrest Gump.”
Few writers can find room for jokes about ISIS, “Forrest Gump,” and “The X-Files,” but the script channels the same mix of pop culture and political savvy Nanjiani demonstrates in his standup.
Hunter’s Beth is a steely-eyed spitfire (her dressing down of a racist heckler at one of Kumail’s shows is a thing of beauty), while Romano’s Terry is a go-along, get-along guy, the sort of dad who comments on the quality of the local tap water or extols the virtues of “Forrest Gump.”
(There’s even an onstage meltdown scene—a hallmark of the comedy mogul’s work, from Funny People to Crashing .)
From Lenny to King of Comedy to Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling to Punchline to Funny People to Obvious Child to Top Five to this year’s The Comedian , no movie about standups has ever been a big hit.
“The Big Sick” is a Judd Apatow production, and like a number of movies he’s been involved with over the years (“ Funny People ,” “This Is 40”), it goes on a tad longer than it should.
For recent examples of the genre, think Kumail Nanjiani’s The Big Sick, Aziz Ansari’s Master of None, and Mindy Kaling’s The Mindy Project.
These two films mark something of watershed moment in Western cinema (throw The Big Sick into the mix too, please) in terms of how people of colour are portrayed - ie. like normal fucking people with their own stories to tell that can be enjoyed by everyone.
He’s not just another non-committal schlub waiting around for the right woman (or man, like in Trainwreck) to make an adult out of him.
Two years ago Amy Schumer scored in her Apatow-produced showcase "Trainwreck"; "The Big Sick" likewise has its standard-issue rom-com beats, but like that movie, this one is built cleverly around a specific, idiosyncratic comic personality.
Directed By Michael Showalter ("Hello My Name is Doris", 2015) and produced by Judd Apatow ("Trainwreck", 2015) and Barry Mendel ("Trainwreck", 2015), "The Big Sick" is actually co-written by Nanjiani and his real-life wife Emily V. Gordon.
The Big Sick is groundbreaking in its casting of a South Asian as the lead in an American romantic comedy; part of the credit for that goes to producer Judd Apatow, who also backed Amy Schumer’s successful writing-starring debut with Trainwreck.
Much like its cousin Trainwreck, The Big Sick has so many endings I started to put on my coat at least four times thinking it was time to leave, only to discover with a sigh there was still a lot more movie to go.
And just like Trainwreck elevated Amy Schumer to being a household name, The Big Sick really could do the same for Kumail Nanjiani.