I have a tendency to dismiss romantic comedies as simple and money-grabbing movies, but there are definitely some extraordinary exceptions. The Big Sick is one of these exceptions, as this film was an expertly-crafted masterpiece of storytelling that I would recommend to anyone. The story was very original and the themes were excellent. There are a few things that I would have personally liked to seen, but this film handled everything very well regardless.
The greatest part of this film was definitely the writing and story. This film was written by Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon, and was about how they met and how their relationship was built. Emily got quite sick after she met Kumail, and it was fascinating to see the story grow from there. As Kumail met her parents, the biggest aspect of the film that was revealed was the secondhand-embarrassment and awkward comedy. This signature Apatow-level humor was done very well for a romantic comedy, and it worked especially well for this story. As Kumail got to know Emily's parents, played by Ray Romano and Holly Hunter, his relationship to them developed as well, which was something new to this genre of film. Rarely does a rom-com feature the main characters as the boyfriend and girlfriend's parents, but this one did it very well. While it is a different type of experience, it brings different aspects of relationships that I feel everyone can relate to, in a strange way. The writing in this film was amazing, and even brought in many different subtle societal aspects that needed to be addressed. Some of these included race and class issues, which were handled well. Kumail is a Pakistani living in America who falls in love with Emily, a white woman from a rural area. This film did not address the race issue directly, but rather indirectly because of its inability to mention it. While one of the main plot points revolved around Kumail's parents wanting an arranged marriage, the fact that Emily was white never came up. This was very clever on their part, and the two did a great job handling that.
While the writing of this film was fantastic, I wish the performances could have been a bit better. Kumail Nanjiani is known for his stand-up comedy, and has not done many feature films. His acting was great, but didn't quite sell the romantic comedy effect. I do not blame him for being mediocre at this element of acting, since he is relatively new, but he did good regardless. The performances from Holly Hunter as the crazy (future) mother-in-law and Ray Romano as the (future) father-in-law were great, per usual. Those two have such solid reputations as artists themselves, and did excellent as well. It was interesting to see the relationship development, especially Hunter's character to Kumail. Going from standoffish to understanding and loving is always a great thing to see in film. As for Emily, I personally wish that she would have played herself instead of Zoe Kazan. Kazan was fantastic in her role, but since this story is about the two of them falling in love, I feel that both of them should have starred in it. This is obviously just a personal preference, but I still believe it.
This awkward true story makes a fantastic and hilarious film from stand-up comic Nanjiani. The writing and story development was awesome, and many of the performances were great. There are a few minor things that I wish would have been changed, but other than those, this film was astounding. I would recommend this film for everyone to see, as it addressed many important issues, including race, class, and of course, love.
My Rating: ★★★★½
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