The Big Sick | Culture-clash comedy gives the romcom genre a shot in the arm

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The Big Sick Kumail Nanjiani Zoe Kazan
(Image credit: Photo by Sarah Shatz)

The Big Sick Kumail Nanjiani Zoe Kazan

An Awkward True Story.

Based on the fraught courtship of husband-and-wife writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon, unusual romantic comedy The Big Sick gives the romcom genre a welcome shot in the arm.

Pakistani-American stand-up comedian and part-time Uber driver Kumail (playing himself) and white postgraduate student Emily (Zoe Kazan) first get together after she heckles him at one of his Chicago gigs. Cultural differences put their relationship under strain, however, as Kumail strives to fend off his Muslim parents’ efforts to push him into an arranged marriage.

Then Emily falls seriously ill and is put into an induced coma, throwing Kumail into the company of her distraught out-of-towner parents (wonderfully played by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano). Adroitly balancing seriousness and humour as its drama unfolds, The Big Sick is heartfelt, touching and very funny.

Certificate 15. Runtime 117 mins. Director Michael Showalter

The Big Sick is available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from StudioCanal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLM5DdUhkoM

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Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.