Judd Apatow has done it again and, in this case, that’s a good thing.
THE APATOW FORMULA GIVES KUMAIL NANJIANI ALL THE ROOM HE NEEDS TO SHINE IN THE BIG SICK
Acolleague of mine has a go- to line whenever studio representatives want to know what he thought of the movie he just saw: “He’s done it again!” It’s the kind of rejoinder that can seem positive but can also mean something very bad; you wouldn’t want to say it about Kevin Spacey in Baby Driver, given that his previous role was in the abysmally received cat comedy Nine Lives.
But with The Big Sick, producer Judd Apatow has done again what he did with Bridesmaids, Trainwreck, Superbad and more — taken some relative unknowns ( on the big screen) and allowed them to craft a personal comedy that lets them shine.
In the case of The Big Sick, it’s very personal. Writer and star Kumail Nanjiani, whose character is also named Kumail, is both in life and in the movie a Pakistani-born American stand- up comedian whose girlfriend (co-writer Emily V. Gordon in life; Zoe Kazan in the movie) was placed in a medically induced coma early in their relationship. It’s not your typical boy- meets- girl story, but that’s kind of the point.
And yes, there are a lot of differences from real life, but that’s because it’s a movie. Imagine the changes if they made a movie of your life — for me, they’d have to blunt my unbelievably sharp wit, and then get British actor Toby Stephens to drop a few pounds so he could play me.
But back to Kumail. When he first meets Emily during one of his standup gigs, neither is look- ing for anything serious. She’s busy with school, and the limits of his romantic life is fending off waves of single Pakistani women who happen to “drop in” while he’s having dinner with his parents ( Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff ), who are firmly pro- arranged-marriage.
But the couple clicks, which sets up the inevitable rom- com barricade-to-true-love — Kumail can’t bring himself to tell his parents about the white girl he’s dating, nor can he tell Emily that his family is likely to disown him if they find out. Fortunately (if you can call it that), Emily’s illness provides an even bigger obstacle.
It’s an unusual narrative tack, and hardly the only one. By removing one of the lovers from the equation, The Big Sick hits many of the same notes as a traditional comedy, but with unusual understudies. Kumail has a breakup scene with his par- ents. He survives an awkward “first date” with Emily’s parents, a fully fleshed out pair played by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano, featuring their best big- screen work in years. (And yes, I’ve seen the Ice Age movies.)
It’s all very naturalistic, funny and surprising, all the more so for not taking the easy path of milking the standup scenes for laughs. In fact, the film’s biggest emotional payoff ( unless you count the perfectly timed final scene) comes when Kumail, ostensibly auditioning for the Montreal comedy fest, loses the thread of his routine and just starts talking about Emily to a crowd of bemused clubgoers who are clearly thinking: We came to hear this?
Much credit must go to director Michael Showalter, who directed Sally Field to critical acclaim in the 2015 indie film Hello, My Name Is Doris. But there’s also the magic touch of Apatow, guru of gross- out giggles — though it must be said that The Big Sick, rated 14A, is less raunchy than most of what carries his name.
It’s also instructive to note that Kumail, when he’s not performing standup or wooing Emily, is working on a painfully earnest one-man show that aims to educate the audience in Pakistani history and the finer points of cricket. It’s funny precisely because it’s not, but it’s also the movie suggesting that this is what you get when you take Apatow out of the equation. Take heed, comedians and audiences alike; the man knows what he’s doing. ∂∂∂∂∂ The Big Sick opens in Toronto and Vancouver on June 30; in Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ottawa and Halifax on July 7; and wide on July 14.