The Big Sick

Year: 2017
Genre: Comedy
Directed: Michael Showalter
Stars: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Adeel Akhtar, Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, Kurt Braunohler, Vella Lovell, Myra Lucretia Taylor, David Alan Grier, Ed Herbstman
Production: FilmNation Entertainment

If this is the route modern American comedies are going than I say it's about darn time. And no I'm not just talking about the movie's general impetus in telling what amounts to a cultural exchange on screen - though good on them for doing that. I'm talking about telling honest, heartfelt stories with beautifully rendered characters, dealing with emotions that inform the humor and give the film a life of its own. One can't but help think if this story was given to anyone else we'd wind up with a paint-by-numbers millennial version of While You Were Sleeping (1995).

Spoiler (kinda)

Though its not like there was a chance in that happening. Actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani plays (drum-roll) Kumail Nanjiani a small time Chicago comedian with a couple of killer bits and a so-so one-man show (big stretch). One night after his set he meets Emily (Kazan) a spirited graduate student who falls for his deadpan sense of humor and unconventional charm. A relationship blooms causing Kumail to question his parents' ongoing plan to have him betrothed to a Pakistani woman; a fact he keeps secret from Emily until right before he's to meet her parents for the first time.

The title of the film hints at a pivotal turning point in Emily and Kumail's relationship but it might as well describe the lengths to which Kumail denies, conceals and avoids the pressures of being a second generation Pakistani living in America. Kumail strives to stand apart from his culture every chance he gets, using it insofar as it informs the setup of his jokes and nothing more. During his one-man show, Kumail examines his culture as if it is a specimen suspended in a vat of formaldehyde - a note Emily makes when she says "I learned a lot about Pakistan but not a lot about you."

As pressures mount, the infection spreads; his usual denials turn into a malignant duplicities in which he risks his relationship, his family and his career. Yet despite being unfathomably introspective, The Big Sick never fails to keep the tone light. Part of that has to do with Nanjiani himself whose unusual energy keeps us rooting for the character, while reveling in the bulls**t he goes through that both he and the audience know he deserves. The lion's share of the credit however has to go to the winning script (written by real life husband/wife team Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon). It veers wildly through divergent plot-points with honesty and sensitivity, gainfully finding good-spirited humor out of just about everything. Whether it be the intense protective love of family (handled by the one-two punch of Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) or parents with outmoded ideas about dating (Kher and Shroff), the universality of The Big Sick still rings true.

Of course, as with all perceived "rom-coms," The Big Sick has a final act problem. Though, to be frank, it should get brownie points for never taking the easy way out or pandering with a chintzy plot device. It leans into the predicted third act misunderstanding but not the kind that can be easily solved with a two minute speech at an airport terminal (or a phone call). The implications of whats on screen could fill the contents of a whole other movie but at 2 hours, The Big Sick simply doesn't have enough gas in the tank for such an undertaking. It's a shame too because I for one would have been game for it.

And that's ultimately the highest compliment I could pay. Unlike Funny People (2009), another Apatow production that also explored the life of a comedian, The Big Sick doesn't feel long in the least. It is rather a beguiling movie themed around 21st century romance that is refreshingly honest and unabashedly cosmopolitan.

Final Grade: B+