Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself force... Read allPakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.
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- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 19 wins & 101 nominations total
- Fatima
- (as Shenaz Treasurywala)
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Featured reviews
Maybe because it's based on the pretty crazy life experiences of comedian Kumail Nanjiani, "The Big Sick" resonates better than most cookie cutter plots. Sure there's sparks, joy, conflict, and tears, but there's also religion, racism, and history. Best of all, there's great chemistry between the leads and the various convoluted familial web players.
Plus Holly Hunter. Yup, Holly Hunter is in this, and of course, she is fabulous. Almost steals the movie. Almost. In fact all the performances are great, including several juicy supporting roles.
Nothing can get in the way of Kumail and Emily's fabulous love story. Hilarious, charming, and sneaky smart.
As a white guy from a middle class family, I already have to process my thoughts if I'm going to go against my parents. I can't imagine how much harder that has to be for those from backgrounds with thicker backgrounds. A good friend of mine is marrying into a Mexican-catholic family despite being nonreligious. He's told me that it's taken him a while to win over his brides family and to be accepted into their traditions. Another friend of mine married an African-American, despite some resistance from his family. Today, I know them as one of the most loving families around. The Big Sick examines love and conflicting with traditions.
Uber driver Kumail (played by Kumail Nanjiani) is an aspiring stand up comedian who is on the verge of acquiring his big break by possibly getting a spot in a popular Canadian comedy festival. He also does a one person play about his experience of growing up in Pakistan and the U.S.A. and how he's adopted the American way of living, despite his family staying safe within their Pakistan values. This includes weekly dinners where his parents keep trying to set him up with potential women from Pakistan to lead into an arraigned marriage. This changes during one of his shows when a heckler stops his show.
Aspiring therapist Emily (played by Zoe Kazan) talks to Kumail about his act and the two end up going home. Though they keep claiming they won't do it again, it leads them to date (without Kumail's parents knowing of course). After a fight and her walking out, Kumail gets a phone call about her in the hospital. He agrees with the doctor to put her in a medical induced coma and uses her phone to contact her parents. Her father Terry (played by Ray Romano) and mother Beth (played by Holly Hunter) arrive as the two and Kumail try to help them deal with their daughter. The Big Sick happens to not only be very cute, but this is a nice examination at these kinds of relationships. You usually don't see many interracial kinships (with the exception of this years Get Out), but this one examines a lot of the complications that arise from both families opinions to between the lovers. It even manages to subvert a lot of tropes you typically find in these romance comedies, like how the couple has their "blowout" much earlier, which only makes the situation even more complicated if she recovers.
The main star and scriptwriter, Kumail Nanjuani, clearly has based this off of his experiences (just wait for the end credits). He knows how to juggle the balance of what probably happened and which moments were exaggerated. He also understands just how much he can hurt his family and how high the consequences were. Though his performance as himself was good, the bigger surprise comes from both Ray Romano and Holly Hunter, both actors I haven't seen in a while. If you think Romano is just repeating his character from Everybody Loves Raymond, then you'll be in for a surprise by how sincere his character is. While I can't spoil the best parts, I can be sure he may have earned himself an Oscar nomination.
The Big Sick also dwells into stand up comedy, which is rarely done on film, into new territory I haven't seen. While most deal with trying to be funny, this one seems to care about how much storytelling is involved. As someone whose done some stand up, I can say that the film is accurate and honest about how hard it is to get noticed. While we're not all trying to get on Saturday Night Live, we at least have different perspectives that are worth addressing.
I'll give this ten stuffed giraffes out of ten. I was taken aback with how much I liked this and hope that a lot of people realize that all kinds of love are worth talking about. The biggest sacrifice you can make depends on what you value, and I hope that this movie can help. I can definitely recommend The Big Sick.
The amazing part of this movie is that it deals with deeply serious complex issues, but does so with humor and grace. The screenplay is remarkable and nuanced, but is infused with a comedian's sense of humor that captures the real human comedy that exists in all personal relationships. You will die laughing when Emily's bewildered father turns to Kumail in a hospital cafeteria and asks him, "What do you think of 9/11?" and Kumail responds as a comedian should to such an outrageously stupid question. Ray Romano and Holly Hunter are excellent in the roles of Emily's parents.
While based on a true story, I'm sure parts have been fictionalized to bring the drama and the humor of the events to the screen, but it appears that the basic Romeo & Juliet premise is based on the screen writers' real relationship. The film's ability to balance the deadly serious and the comedic reminds me of the wonderful film 50/50 (2011) which also dealt with a deadly illness with a similar light touch. This beautiful film which deals so well with the complexities of overcoming cultural differences serves as a good anecdote to our charged political climate and especially with the demonization of Islam that has become all too dangerous in this country. I hope it is the breakout comedy hit of the summer when it goes into wide release in July.
No story or movie becomes great without a superb cast. Again Kumail Nanjiani proved his versatility with an amazingly strong performance (in my opinion award winning). And this movie was not a one man show, Zoe Kazan gave just the right energy to her role, Holly Hunter should get an Academy Award for best supporting actress for hers, Ray Romano was excellent as were Zenobia Shroff and Anupam Kher. This was the best movie I've seen in a very long time and just may be the best romantic comedy I've ever seen.
The anchor of this layered comedy is Kumail Nanjiani, not only a subtly smooth stand-up comedian but also a handsome leading man, whose low-key approach to ambition and love puts him in the pantheon of heroes who are believable, self-effacing, and charming. The story is built around his courtship of Emily (Zoe Kazan) based on his wife, Emily V, Gordon, who is co-writer of this warm, sentimental and ultimately realistic screenplay.
Perhaps that realism is just what so endeared me to this dramedy because it fairly depicts the humor of competing cultures and the strains of everyday life in stand-up comedy Chicago and the world. Yet, it is lighthearted rather than grim, with comic toss-off lines that beg for a return to the film to enjoy the ones you may have missed.
You may also return to see the star turns of Holly Hunter and Ray Romano as Emily's parents, Beth and Terry. The two pros can jump from flip to serious in a flash. They alone are a whole film experience wrapped in another film.
The Big Sick is more mood and tone than plot, a quiet reflection of the complicated lives that face more than decisions about sleeping around or telling your family all about your life. Although you may have experienced the cute lover suddenly rushed to hospital in countless other rom-coms, producer Judd Apatow has made sure you will laugh as you enjoy his iconic comedies, now in a higher form than ever, and wax philosophical at the slings and arrows of love in different cultures.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was released in the United States on Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon's tenth wedding anniversary.
- GoofsWhen Kumail is eating fast food and receives a text saying that he is supposed to be on stage in 20 minutes, the text is marked as being sent 1 day beforehand.
- Quotes
Terry: So, uh, 9/11.
[everyone looks at Terry expectantly]
Terry: No I mean, I've always wanted to have a conversation with
[gestures at Kumail]
Terry: about it. With
[gestures again at Kumail]
Terry: people.
Kumail: You've never talked to people about 9/11?
Terry: No what's your, what's your stance?
Kumail: What's my stance on 9/11? Oh um, anti. It was a tragedy, I mean we lost 19 of our best guys.
Beth: Huh?
Kumail: That was a joke, obviously. 9/11 was a terrible tragedy. And it's not funny to joke about it.
- Crazy creditsIn the beginning of the end credits, photos of shown of the real-life inspiration behind the Emily character, as well as the wedding between Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani and Nanjiani's real-life parents.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Conan: Holly Hunter/Natasha Lyonne/Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm (2017)
- SoundtracksDevil's Haircut
Written by Beck (as Beck Hansen), James Brown, Phil Coulter (as Philip Coulter), Thomas Kilpatrick, Tom Scott (as Tommy Scott), Michael Simpson & John King
Performed by Beck
Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Courtesy of BMG Rights Management (US) LLC
Courtesy of Picadilly Music Corporation
Used by permission of Fort Knox Music, Inc.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Un amor inseparable
- Filming locations
- Chicago, Illinois, USA(location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $5,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $42,873,127
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $421,577
- Jun 25, 2017
- Gross worldwide
- $56,411,585
- Runtime2 hours
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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