"It's interesting how you can't kick someone out of your Family, because they'll always be your Family" The Big Sick Review

The Big Sick

3/5

Directed by: Michael Showalter

Written by: Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani

Rated: R

           In the year 2007 Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon were bonded together in matrimony, and they had a Pakistani themed wedding. Approximately seven years later Kumail and Emily decided to write out the story of how they met each other as a movie screenplay. After three years of writing and rewriting, Kumail and Emily had a script they were proud of, and Amazon studios had the means to make their script a reality (well, a fictitious cinematic reality). This is the awkward but true story of how Kumail and Emily fell in love in the windy city. This is The Big Sick.
           The Big Sick is led by a well constructed cast of endearing and realistic performances. Kumail Nanjiani stars as himself in this real to life story about how he met his wife Emily, who is played by the hilarious and charming Zoe Kazan. The romantic chemistry between these two is appealing and it is enjoyable watching how their relationship develops through all of its twists and turns. Along with these two performers are long time comedy geniuses Holly Hunter and Ray Romano, playing Emily's parents. These two portray a loving, if imperfect, couple that offer an air of heart and hospitality that will make audiences feel welcomed into this movie's world. Besides these four performers, there is a cast of unique and unpredictable characters. Each one has their own sense of humor and different way of illustrating this movie's drama. From Kumail's parents to the new employee at a drive through every performer in this movie does a good job illustrating this story about comedy, conundrums and catharsis.
           The weakest aspect of The Big Sick is its pacing and handling of its first act. The first half hour of The Big Sick is riddled with clichés, and this could be more than enough to provoke some viewers to turn off this movie immediately without giving it a second chance. The Big Sick, however, is worth watching until the end, because the second and third acts of this movie are far superior and more comedic than the lackluster first act. In addition to this movie's off-putting pacing, there are also some edits in this movie that range from bad to downright atrocious. It is clear the filmmakers were experimenting with some new editing tricks they wanted to try, but these tricks do not add depth or heighten this movie's experience. These tricks are just distracting.

           By far the best aspect of this pseudo biographical romantic comedy is its unique and endearing screenplay. The comedy in this film is a splendid blend of tasteful light humor and uncomfortable jokes meant to stir up controversy and awkward laughter. Everything is fair game for humor in this movie. From taking jabs at Uber drivers and stand up comedians to bringing up issues of ethnicity and culture clashes every topic of comedy addressed in Gordon and Najiani's screenplay is treated with a level of mature respect. These topics are also often addressed with an air of light heartedness that keeps the story from feeling too bogged down in tragedy or being controversial for the sake of being controversial. It's a story about culture, family, tragedy, love, life and how to laugh all the way through it. Kumail and Emily's writing is so uniquely endearing and classically iconic, it is no wonder why this screenplay is nominated for an Academy Award.

Verdict: Though it can be cliché and it has awkward pacing, The Big Sick offers some splendid moments of comedy and real to life drama making it worth seeking out for a movie night with friends and family.