We've all seen films based on true stories about presidents, singers, sports figures and other high-profile people in our history, but what if we are given a small film about the meeting of the two writers of this film, who are not high-profile, written in a powder dry comedic way? Well, this is what we have been offered in the form of "The Big Sick".
A Pakistani-American standup comedian, Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) falls for a white grad student, Emily (Zoe Kazan), and decides to keep their uncertain romance a secret from his traditionalist, Muslim family, including Azmat (Anupam Kher), his father, Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff), his mother and Naveed (Adeel Akhtar), his brother, lest be disowned if he decides to marry outside their Pakistani roots. However, their relationship gets more serious when she develops a mysterious, infectious illness, which in turn forces him to bond with her parents, Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano). Kumail soon gets a serious lesson of what's important in life whether it be professional, personal or spiritual.
Others to round out the cast are Kurt Braunohler as Chris, Aidy Bryant as Mary, Bo Burnham as CJ, Vella Lovell as Khadija, Myra Lucretia Taylor as Nurse Judy, Ed Herbstman as Sam Highsmith, David Ogden Stiers as Andy Dodd and Jeremy Shamos as Bob Dalavan.
This was directed with subtlety and finesse by Michael Showalter ("The Baxter" '05, "Hello, My Name Is Doris" '15, "Giles Vanderhoot" (TV movie) '16) plus TV. This filmmaker surely knows how to extract the right emotion in the most subtlest of ways (Hello, My Name Is Doris), that it almost looks as though we are peeking into people's lives and watching them live. He doesn't have a ton of experience to his credit, but what he has is pure quality. It is extremely well crafted by writers, Emily V. Gordon (TV) and Nanjiani (TV and a short). Considering this involves a comedian, this could've been written in the usual comedic format, however these writers decided to make it a romantic drama-comedy which leans to more of a realistic view of the real-life courtship of Kumail and Emily. One other film that is somewhat similar in that the writer wrote about their life and family is "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding" '02. Both written as parodies make this seem familiar. The way the writers kept placing these two characters in such awkward situations made this seem even more real, not to mention both Hunter and Romano were brilliant as the parents of Emily. They are both consummate actors, but Romano really surprised me in that his TV series, "Everybody Loves Raymond" he showed his acting chops well, but in this film, he went from the comedic, almost pathetic character in his TV show to this serious, angry, sometimes apologetic husband that we, as the audience, don't get to see much. These two have only TV to their credit as writers, but, as I've mentioned in other reviews, writers need to hone themselves a lot more on TV so they can make it to the big league. These guys have not only made it to the big league, but they have hit a home run as well.
This is not a comedy written as a belly laugh film, but rather one that is tastefully subtle with class as its middle name. If you're into subtle, powder dry comedy, this will fit the bill, however if pratfall, more physical comedy is more of your fare, this probably will be disappointing. In my book it rocks!
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: R 120mins.
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