The Big Sick - 4 smiles

"The Big Sick," is a romantic comedy with a surprising amount of depth. The film, directed by Michael Showalter, is based on the life of Kumail Nanjiani, a Pakistani immigrant and comic and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, a television comedy writer. The couple co-wrote the screenplay and Nanjiani plays himself in the film while Emily is played, wonderfully, by Zoe Kazan. Kumail is introduced doing his stand-up routine at a Chicago club. Emily, whom he's never met, gently heckles him, breaking his focus. This meet-cute moment leads to a one-night stand that, despite their protestations, leads to a serious relationship. But there's a big problem: Kumail's parents (Zenobia Shroff and Anupam Kher) are strict Muslims who would never approve of his involvement with a white American girl. So he doesn't tell them about Emily, but when she discovers his subterfuge, she's devastated. It's clear to Kumail that if he marries Emily, he will lose his family. Emily has a right to be angry with Kumail, but she doesn't understand the gravity of what's at stake for him. Several weeks after Kumail and Emily have broken up, she is suddenly diagnosed with a mysterious infection that requires her to be put into a medically induced coma. Kumail, acknowledging the depth of his feelings for Emily, becomes so steadfast in his vigilance at the hospital that even Emily's parents, Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano), who have flown in from North Carolina, gradually warm up to him. Unlike Kumail, who had told his parents nothing about Emily, she has told her parents everything about Kumail and his deception.

One of the most moving aspects of "The Big Stick" is the way in which Terry, Beth and Kumail transform their antagonism into a fierce advocacy for Emily and for each other. Terry uses humor to camouflage his grief about Emily's condition and his frustration over not being able to fix the rift in his own marriage. Romano is deeply touching. Holly Hunter is a pint-sized dynamo as Beth, especially when she tries to shut down one of Kumail's hecklers at a stand-up show. Zoe Kazan is a delightfully spirited Emily and Nanjiani pulls of the none-too-easy feat of playing a younger version of himself. It's refreshing to see a movie that makes Muslim American characters three-dimensional people. But most of all, "The Big Sick" stands out for its huge generosity of spirit and its reliance on human relationships, rather than ridiculous slap stick, high-concept plot twists and outsized villains to drive its plot. You can't say that about most movies today, let alone a romantic comedy.


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