By Tania Phillips
THE Big Sick (M)
Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano
IT would be easy to dismiss The Big Sick as just another romantic comedy – but then you’d totally miss the point.
While boy meets girl and boy loses girl, what sets this little movie apart is that the girl spends half the movie in a medically induced coma and it’s the relationship that her ex-boyfriend develops with her parents and his own that are the real stars of this film.
Based on the life, times and love of Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his co-writer and wife Emily, the Big Sick is a movie of two halves – the story of an aspiring stand-up comedian and his uni-grad girlfriend, and then what happens when Emily (Zoe Kazan) gets sick.
What starts as a sweet, awkward romantic comedy develops into something with a lot more heart and depth but still with a lot of humour.
Beth and Terry, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano are a couple at the crossroads of their relationship who are suddenly forced to confront every parent’s nightmare – the illness of their only daughter.
A reluctant Kumail, who has broken up with Emily after she discovers he hasn’t told his parents about her, is thrust into their world (after previously finding ways not to meet them).
The two seem perfectly cast, with Romano bringing a surprising amount of heart and nuance to his role while Hunter is her usual best.
Close to their daughter, the duo particularly Beth, are reluctant to get to know Kumail at first but as Emily’s illness progresses they learn a lot about themselves and each other.
Kumail’s story takes on a kind of coming of age feel as one set of parents lets him understand another (his own played by Anupam Kher (Bend It Like Beckham) and Zenobia Shroff).
This is a story of cultural clashes, growing up (which can be done at any age) and family and while it is still a romantic comedy at its heart – there is enough awkward realism to keep it from turning the usual formulaic rom-com where only the actors have changed (and not always that).
This has been a sleeper hit around the world, despite not getting a huge release and it kind of proves when done right, rom-coms are more than just Meg Ryan (or Sandra Bullock) -Tom Hanks (Ryan Reynolds) and a quirky ending.
– Tania Phillips
