The Big Sick is a true story told with the lightest touch. It is a romance, a comedy, and a drama about the hardest kind of love: the one that makes your family hate you. It is also the best film of 2017, a movie that earns its laughter and its tears without ever losing its footing.
Kumail Nanjiani plays himself, a Pakistani-American comedian in Chicago who meets Emily Gardner (Zoe Kazan) at a comedy club. They hook up, they date, they fall in love. Then Emily gets sick, and everything changes. The disease is a rare adult-onset Still’s disease, a condition that puts her into a coma. Her parents, Beth and Terry Gardner (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano), show up from North Carolina, and Kumail is left alone in a hospital room with a phone and a signature he didn’t know he had given away.
The movie was written by Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, who are the real couple behind the story. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017, and went wide on July 14, 2017, after a limited release on June 23, 2017. It made $56 million worldwide on a budget of $5 million, and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. That success is not an accident. The script is sharp, the performances are exact, and the story is true enough to hurt.
Trailer, via Prime Movies.
The Setup
The film opens with Kumail performing at a comedy club. He meets Emily, a grad student at the University of Chicago, and they sleep together. They keep seeing each other, but there is friction. Emily finds pictures of other women in Kumail’s apartment. He explains that these are women he has met for an arranged marriage. She rejects the idea and breaks up with him.
Kumail decides to focus on his career. He aims for a spot at the Montreal Comedy Festival. He auditions, and he hooks up with an audience member the same night. Later, he receives a distress call. Emily has been admitted to the hospital. Doctors put her in a medical coma and ask Kumail to inform her parents. The next day, Terry and Beth arrive from North Carolina.
The Comedians
Nanjiani is the lead, and he is the best he has ever been. He plays a man who is funny and anxious and scared. He tells jokes to hide his feelings, and the jokes work. Kazan is the opposite. She is warm and smart and steady. Their scenes together are the best in the film. They talk about books and movies and what it means to be in love. They fight about culture and family and the future. They break up and get back together. And then Emily gets sick.
The supporting cast is excellent. Holly Hunter and Ray Romano play the Gardners, and they are not based on Gordon’s actual parents. Hunter said she never contacted or spoke with Gordon’s mother before playing the part. She wanted to “feel my own freedom with the character.” That decision pays off. The Gardners are protective and demanding, but they are also funny. They play drinking games with Kumail, and they defend him from racial hecklers at the comedy club.
Anupam Kher plays Kumail’s father, Azmat Nanjiani. He was directly contacted by Nanjiani, whose father had recommended Kher for the role. Kher’s character’s last scene was the first scene he had filmed for the production. The Big Sick marks Kher’s 500th appearance in a feature film. He is perfect. He is proud and stubborn and loving. He threatens to disown Kumail when Kumail refuses to marry other women.
The Arranged Marriage Plot
The arranged marriage subplot is the engine of the film. Kumail’s family wants him to marry a woman they choose. He has met several women for the purpose, and the pictures of them are what Emily found. The subplot runs through the whole movie, but it is not the main story. The main story is Kumail and Emily. The arranged marriage plot is the pressure that pushes them together.
The subplot also creates tension with the Gardners. They do not approve of Kumail’s background. They see him as a threat to their daughter. But they also see him as a good man. They defend him from hecklers, and they spend the night with him at Emily’s apartment. The tension between the two families is the emotional core of the film. It is not about race or politics. It is about love and fear and the people we choose.
The Comedy Club
The comedy club is where the film finds its rhythm. Kumail performs stand-up, and the jokes are sharp. He tells stories about his family and his life. He makes the audience laugh, but he is also nervous. He is trying to win a spot at the Montreal Comedy Festival, and he knows it is important. The club is where he meets the audience member he sleeps with. It is also where he bombs his Montreal audition.
The bombing is a turning point. Kumail is at his worst moment, and he fails. He is not funny, and he is not charming. He is just a man who is scared. The scene is quiet, and it is devastating. It shows that Kumail is not invincible. He can fail. He can lose. And that is what makes him human.
The Hospital
The hospital is where the film is at its darkest. Emily is in a coma, and Kumail is waiting. He has to sign papers. He has to talk to doctors. He has to explain to her parents why he is there. The scene is tense. The doctors want to know if he is the right person to make decisions. Kumail is not sure. He is scared. He is in love.
The hospital scenes are also where the film is at its most tender. Kumail watches over Emily. He reads to her. He holds her hand. He waits for her to wake up. The tenderness is earned. It comes from the earlier scenes, from the fights and the love and the breakup. The tenderness is not saccharine. It is real. It is honest. It is heartbreaking.
The Wake-Up
Emily wakes up. She is diagnosed with a rare adult-onset Still’s disease, but she will fully recover. She is confused. She does not remember Kumail being there. She does not know that he was by her side throughout. She refuses to believe it. The moment is quiet. It is not a big reveal. It is a small moment, and it is powerful.
The wake-up is the climax of the film. It is the moment that Emily returns to life. It is the moment that Kumail’s waiting is over. It is the moment that the tension of the arranged marriage plot and the family conflict is resolved. It is the moment that the love story is complete. It is a happy ending, but it is not a simple one. It is a complicated one.
The Numbers
| Film | Director | Writers | Lead Actors | Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Big Sick | Michael Showalter | Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani | Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan | $56 million |
| Release Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 20, 2017 | World premiere at Sundance Film Festival |
| June 23, 2017 | Limited theatrical release |
| July 14, 2017 | Wide release |
The Verdict
The Big Sick is a great film. It is a true story, and it is told with honesty and humor. The heart of the film is strong. The performances are strong. The writing is strong. The story is strong.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a true story work. It is not the story itself that matters. It is the way the story is told. The Big Sick tells its story with respect. It does not exploit the tragedy. It does not make jokes at the expense of the characters. It makes jokes about the situation. It makes jokes about the absurdity of life. It makes jokes about the pain of love.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a comedy work. It is not the jokes themselves that matter. It is the timing. The Big Sick knows when to laugh and when to cry. It knows when to slow down and when to speed up. It knows when to be funny and when to be serious. It is a comedy that understands drama, and a drama that understands comedy.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a romance work. It is not the romance itself that matters. It is the stakes. The Big Sick sets high stakes. It sets the stakes of love against the stakes of family. It sets the stakes of the present against the stakes of the future. It sets the stakes of the heart against the stakes of the mind. It is a romance that understands the cost of love.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a true story work. It is not the truth itself that matters. It is the telling of the truth. The Big Sick tells its truth with grace. It tells its truth with humility. It tells its truth with courage. It is a true story that respects the truth.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a film work. It is not the film itself that matters. It is the people in it. The Big Sick is a film about people. It is a film about Kumail and Emily. It is a film about Beth and Terry. It is a film about Azmat and Sharmeen. It is a film about Naveed and Khadija. It is a film about Nurse Judy. It is a film about the people who make the world go round.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a film work. It is not the film itself that matters. It is the people who make it. The Big Sick was made by people who care. It was made by people who believe in love. It was made by people who believe in family. It was made by people who believe in the power of the truth. It was made by people who believe in the power of the story. It was made by people who believe in the power of the joke.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a film work. It is not the film itself that matters. It is the people who watch it. The Big Sick was watched by millions of people. It was watched by people who laughed. It was watched by people who cried. It was watched by people who believed. It was watched by people who felt. It was watched by people who saw themselves in the story. It was watched by people who saw the world in the story. It was watched by people who saw the truth in the story.
The film is also a reminder of what makes a film work. It is not the film itself that matters. It is the people who remember it. The Big Sick will be remembered. It will be remembered as a great film. It will be remembered as a true story. It will be remembered as a comedy. It will be remembered as a drama. It will be remembered as a romance. It will be remembered as a film that mattered.
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