'The Big Sick' Is the Best Romcom Film of the Year

The Big Sick is a film loosely based on the real-life romance that happened between comedic actor Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon.  The script is written by the couple, and directed by Michael Showalter.  It focuses on Kumail, playing himself, when he was still a struggling stand-up comedian starting out in the business and working as a part-time Uber driver (likely a fictional detail added; the couple got married in 2007, while Uber started operation in 2009).

One night, during a gig, he meets a psychology graduate student named Emily (played in the movie by Zoe Kazan).  He hooks up with her and a relationship soon develops between the two.  However, Kumail is troubled with the thought of how his Pakistani Muslim family will react, as they intend to marry him off to a Muslim woman, per tradition.  This factor leads to a row between the couple.  But when a mysterious illness falls on Emily, requiring her to be put into a coma, Kumail finds himself bonding with her parents (played by Ray Romano and Holly Hunter) and realizing how much he really loves her.

Romantic comedy is a tired, staling genre.  It takes real creativity and effort to make something fresh and remarkable from it.  And The Big Sick pulls it off, most probably due to it being inspired by real events and the inter-cultural themes it explores.  An interesting direction that this movie does is, because of the whole coma thing, the man has more interactions and develops better chemistry with her parents than the woman herself.  The moments between Kumail and Emily’s parents are easily the highlights of this film.  Due to this, the romance actually becomes more worthy of being rooted for.

I do have problems with it, but they’re pretty minor.  First, I understand why Kumail is the lead, but he doesn’t quite bring it with his performance.  He’s not bad, but I wish he was better.  Second, since Kumail is playing himself already, it would have been more interesting if the real-life Emily also played herself.  It’s not like she’s not attractive enough to be on screen – she is.  Or is it because she’s incapable of acting?

Also, as a comedy, well, it’s adequately funny.  I really enjoyed Ray Romano here.  It’s been a while since he had a great comedic role.  There’s also this one character, Kumail’s roommate, who is supposed to be a terrible stand-up comedian, yet is ironically the source of the film’s funniest bits.  But, overall, the jokes could have been better.  I appreciate the tone it was going for, but some riotous moments would have enhanced the film.  I guess this film is more satisfying in the drama side of things.

In the end, (unless something more original and interesting gets released this year, which I fell is unlikely) The Big Sick will end up being the best romcom movie of 2017.  It’s smart and touching; and despite the heavy, poignant moments it has, it leaves a good feeling to the audience when it ends.