Movie Review: THE BIG SICK "One of the Best Movies This Year"

I've seen Michael Showalter's The Big Sick twice and it was almost better the second time around. Why is that? It's rare that a film gets better in its second viewing. So many films these days create conflict through mindless action or over the top interpersonal conflict, but at the heart of this story is a real dilemma that most will be able to relate to. It's this deeper conflict that makes this movie sing. A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones. This definitely applies to The Big Sick's hero's predicament. For our hero Kumail Nanjiani (Played by himself), he is torn between his love for his family and his love for his girlfriend. Both are equally compelling and create conflict that is both highly entertaining and emotionally resonant. In the first act of the film, the filmmakers do a beautiful job of establishing both worlds and why they are important to Kumail. Kumail s family is established in these hilarious dinner scenes where Kumail's mom awkwardly introduces an army of single Pakistani women suitors. Because he loves his parents, Kumail quietly tolerates the hilariously inane chit chat.

Then there is his romance with Emily (played brilliantly by Zoe Kazan). They develop a very realistic young adult relationship that starts out about quick pithy banter and builds to a much deeper understanding of their shared values. And the conflict comes from the fact that Kumail cannot bring himself to tell his parents about Emily and we sympathize because we see how intolerant his mom is of anything but her dream for a Pakistani daughter-in-law.

And then comes the illness. Emily comes down with a mysterious condition and Kumail meets Emily's parents in the hospital. This is our second act. In romantic comedies and many other genres, it's the act where our hero is pushed to learn some serious life lessons and the parents played perfectly by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano are just the right characters to teach these lessons. And fortunately, it avoids being preachy because the couple feel so real in their mixture of affection and resentment. There is a scene where Kumail has a heart to heart with Holly Hunter's mom character and it's done so well because the writing and performances are funny and sad in equal measure. Without you realizing it, the scene is subtly teaching Kumail a lesson in values. He learns from Holly Hunter's character that a relationship can persevere over prejudice. She tells him the story of how she met her husband and how her family initially despised him for his lack of traditional masculinity. But as time passed, and her family's defenses slowly fell, this divide slowly shrank and they accepted him. This story gives Kumail both hope and a way forward.

I know this might all sound like a Lifetime movie but what elevates the material is the way the writing always shows the characters in realistic details and not stereotypical tropes. And the actors emotionally commit to every scene the audience can feel their joy and heart break. Even smaller roles like Kumail's mom (played by Zenobia Schroff) were so on point. In her eyes, you can see her love and her disgust and her pain. Even in a scene where she unleashes her anger onto Kumail, you see she loves her son and it's this blend of opposing emotions that makes it so real and heart breaking. Just like in life, these characters find those that we love can cause the greatest pain. But if we face these real deeper conflicts, we may find the greatest happiness.

Five out of five stars.