Bittersweet tale of cross-cultural love
THE BIG SICK (15, 120 mins)
JUST when it seemed romantic comedies might be in terminal decline, along comes director Michael Showalter’s uplifting and bittersweet tale, based on the courtship of PakistaniAmerican comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V Gordon, who co-wrote the script.
Nanjiani plays himself to deadpan perfection and catalyses molten screen chemistry with co-star Zoe Kazan as the luminous object of his awkward affections.
The two-hour running time allows Nanjiani and Kazan to populate each unfussy frame with flawed and endearing characters who don’t always know how to ease the pain of those they adore.
In 2006, Kumail (Nanjiani) hones his craft on the Chicago comedy scene. To pay the rent, he works as a taxi driver while his mother Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff ) invites a different Pakistani woman to dinner each night as a potential love match.
After one comedy gig, Kumail meets spunky audience member Emily (Kazan) and there is an instant spark of attraction.
Kumail keeps the relationship secret from his family, but Emily discovers photos of women hand-picked by his mother. When Kumail nervously explains his parents’ presumption of arranged marriage, Emily feels betrayed.
Soon after, she contracts a serious infection. Doctors induce a medical coma – and Kumail must contact Emily’s parents...
The Big Sick wears its heart on its sleeve and elicits roaring belly laughs from the central duo’s predicament. The script generously distributes the best lines among the cast and Showalter sidesteps genre cliches, allowing the pithy and occasionally withering words to speak louder than his actions.