The Big Sick (2017)
Directed by Michael Showalter
Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.
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31 films that influenced The Big Sick
What critics say influenced The Big Sick
“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."
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.
(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.
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.
Think Steve Carell in “ The 40-Year-Old Virgin ,” Seth Rogen in “Knocked Up” or Amy Schumer in “ Trainwreck .”
Both have a propensity for making comedy with heart – Apatow with This is 40 and Showalter with Hello, My Name is Doris – but neither have quite been associated with a movie that does it such a profound manner as this.
This is a feature of Apatow’s films (Knocked Up, This is 40), which are unfailingly honest about the ups and downs of marriage.
“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.
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).
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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 Big Sick may recall Sundance comedy hits past (Sleepwalk With Me comes to mind), but it’s too affecting to give the redundancies much thought.
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.
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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."