The Big Sick

ANDY’S RATING: ★★★ In cinemas on Friday

IT is a song, and a book and it should also be the name of this Judd Apatow produced rom-com. But for some reason they chose not to call it Girlfriend In A Coma. Presumably, The Big Sick is a pun on The Big Sleep, which would also have been a better title. Odd choice. Anyway, there are a lot of them in this film. Stand-up Kumail Nanjiani plays himself as he relives his early relationship with his wife Emily (played by Zoe Kazan).

The couple met at a comedy club, split up then got back together after Kumail nursed her through a medically-induced coma.

As this is a comedy about a comic, written by a comic, you’d expect a barrage of well-honed gags. But Kumail isn’t that funny in the film. Most of the laughs come from Holly Hunter and Ray Romano who spark so brilliantly as Emily’s parents you’ll wish they had been in the film from the start.

The first half is a well-acted and convincing drama about Kumail’s family. His parents are immigrants from Pakistan and want him to marry a nice Pakistani girl and become a doctor.

To quote Morrissey again, “Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before”.