Logan Sork Film Reviews
The Big Sick
I’m often not a fan of comedies because I feel that those films think that they have to be just that- comedies. Just because a film is funny doesn’t mean I can get invested into it. A lot of comedies focus on telling jokes more than a compelling story with interesting characters. This even has an impact on the comedy itself as without dramatic moments from the story, the comedy becomes repetitive and as a result, not funny. Therefore, The Big Sick succeeds where other comedies fail in that it has an excellent emotional story at its core. It’s funny yes, but the comedy takes a back seat to the well-developed characters and emotional core that the film has. This results in a film that is funny, yet also has a story that the audience can get invested in, making the films funny moments even more hilarious and the film’s sad moments even more heartbreaking.
The Big Sick is directed by Michael Showalter and stars Kumail Nanjiani as a fictional version of himself. Kumail is a Pakistani comedian who ends up meeting a graduate student, Emily Gardner (Zoe Kazan) and begins a relationship with her. The relationship is complicated as Kumail’s family wants him to marry a Pakistani woman to be more connected to his culture, because of this the tow have a falling out. He later learns that Emily has been taken to the hospital and is in critical condition due to a major bacterial infection. Here, Kumail meets Emily’s Mother and Father (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) as they continue to await Emily’s recovery, despite a tense relationship between them.
What works best about the film is that it knows when to be funny and when to be serious. This is a film about someone who has a life-threatening medical condition, if it were all funny it just would not work as kit would seem oversaturated with jokes which really wouldn’t work well with the subject manner. Thankfully, the film is aware of just how serious these situations can be and has several moments in the film where the comedy is taken down to allow the more dramatic moments to sink in.
That being said, film is hilarious. The humor in this film comes very naturally from the characters in the film and the situations they are in. What really helps this is the script and the performances. Everyone in the film feels like a real person, each with different personalities and qualities, helping to add many different kinds of comedy based on the characters. This helps that comedy stay fresh through out the film as we are exposed to so many kinds of comedy rather than being forced to experience the same kind over and over again, helping to keep the film fresh along the way.
The film is also not afraid to tackle difficult subject matter. Aside from the focus on life threatening disease, the film also has themes of cultural intolerance and troubles in relationships that couples go through. One of the main conflicts in the film revolves around Kumail’s parents believing that it is best for him to marry a Pakistani woman over a white woman. This create more tension between Kumail and his family as the film progresses and creates some internal conflict within himself. Does he take the chance and marry a woman he may not love for the approval of his family, or does he follow the woman he loves and risk alienation from his family? This is some truly difficult subject manner that the film manages to discuss in a brilliant way. There is also a discussion about the difficulties in relationships. Whether it be the mistrust between Kumail and Emily or the problems between her parents, the film presents no perfect relationships because there is no such thing as a perfect relationship, something that most romantic comedies fail to understand.
If I have one problem with the film, is that it goes on for about fifteen minutes too long. I don’t know if it was just me, but there was a point where the pacing of the film slowed down. If it had been just a couple of minutes shorter it would have been better.
Aside from that minute nit-pick, the film is excellent. It is extremely smart, funny, serious and has a great heartwarming story that anyone can enjoy.
8/10