The Big Sick

This review may contain spoilers!

This is a romantic comedy that is so openly honest and affectionately warm that you can't do anything but fall in love with it. I would give The Big Sick a 7.5/10.

This is a film that really comes at you from quite a grounded point of view; you get a story about love that feels so overwhelmingly natural and sincere that you'd be hard pressed not to connect with it. Kumail's struggle with his sense of identity is also quite an important element of the story and you see it as he figures out what it means to be a Pakistani-American, have so much cultural responsibility placed upon him from his family and struggle to find success in what he wishes to do with his life. The story presents the struggle of Emily's parents too, who have to come to terms with their own marital problems as well as form a relationship with Kumail; it's not an easy path by any means for any of the roles in the film but the manner in which genuine human connection is shown really makes this film a masterpiece.

Zoe Kazan, who played Emily, is really impressive cause she doesn't feel like a love interest; Kazan constructs a woman who has gone through a lot of her own painful experiences in life and is finding joy in the new love that is starting to develop. Holly Hunter, who played Beth, is a real tough as nails mother; Hunter's commitment to Romano is very sweet and they have a chemistry that is very natural. Ray Romano, who played Terry, is quite a timid and meek role at time who is a very friendly figure; the way Romano shows his character losing control and struggling with the events within the film is very well done. Anupam Kher, who played Azmat, is quite a comic figure as the father of his household; the way he attempts to play the intermediary between Nanjiani and Shroff is well handled by him. Zenobia Shroff, who played Sharmeen, is a powerful figure as the matriarch of her house; Shroff is a harsh mother at times but she does a great job at portraying a cultural perspective within this film.

However the best performance came from Kumail Nanjiani, who played Kumail. I found this performance to be really humourous, he had an awkward delivery that was quite fun but could switch to a very natural confident demeanour as the film progressed too. Nanjiani brings forth a character who is human and kind, he wants what is best for the woman he loves and he clearly values his family quite a bit. There's an honesty to this film about identity, significantly around cultural values, you are interested and engaged by Kumail and want him to be happy. This happiness is very evident in the wonderful chemistry that we see between him and Kazan. This is a character film, a story about love and laughter, a cultural film and beyond a shadow of a doubt: it is Kumail Nanjiani's film.

The cinematography of the film doesn't always frame up as smoothly as it could, in fact the visual style is quite casual and doesn't focus heavily upon making an impact. The editing kept the pace for the film a little slow, there was a lot of slow, steady cutting. The soundtrack for the film really doesn't stand out all that much, nor does the score for the film really set the tone for a variety of scenes.

Adeel Akhtar and Vella Lovell, who played Naveed and Khadija respectively, often fail to grab the limelight in the shared family scenes; I found it a real shame the film didn't do more to make Akhtar's role more likeable, at least near the end of the film. Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant and Kurt Braunohler, who played CJ, Mary and Chris respectively, are all apparently Nanjiani's 'friends' in the film but it's hard to be very convinced by any of the relationships here; frankly most of these performers came off as cynical or crude which made them difficult to connect with.