What was the last great big-screen romantic comedy?
Plenty of genres have been on their last legs in recent years, but none have suffered quite as much as the romantic comedy. It's been such a rough stretch for the former staple of the Hollywood diet that you probably have to go all the way back to 2012's Silver Linings Playbook to find the last truly great one- unless you count La La Land, which is more of a musical romance for my money. In fact, the best romantic comedy of the last several years can actually be found on television in the form of Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang's Master of None, a show that is as gorgeously cinematic and hopelessly thrilling as any big-screen romance in recent memory. Hollywood has turned its back on great love stories, opting to throw more money at blockbusters and leaving Sundance to create arthouse hits like Marc Webb's 2009 classic (500) Days of Summer.
But eventually, the studios have to learn their lesson, right? Romance still sells, date movies are important, and great, emotional stories are critical to success at the box office. If Hollywood takes the right lessons from this summer, we could see some serious paradigm shifts. The latest evidence of the aforementioned trends comes in the form of The Big Sick, a Sundance breakout (surprise!) from comedian Kumail Nanjiani and producer Judd Apatow, who created a raunchier version of the romantic comedy with films like Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin. This film practically brought the house down at Sundance, and it has quickly emerged as the best counter-programming of the summer. Critics are absolutely loving it, and this film is practically the definition of a crowd-pleaser. I seriously didn't think that Michael Showalter's flick could live up to the hype- but it somehow managed to exceed my expectations. It's seriously funny, genuinely emotional, and grounded in warmth and compassion, a remarkable true story that is as poignant as it is truly hysterical. The Big Sick is a knockout, and a film that deserves every bit of praise and adoration that you can throw its way.
Kumail Nanjiani (played by none other than Kumail Nanjiani) is a struggling stand-up comic living in Chicago, performing on stage with his friends (Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, Kurt Braunohler) in the hopes of becoming successful. After a show one day, Kumail meets Emily Gardner (Zoe Kazan), a grad student who hopes to go into psychology. Kumail and Emily hit it off, have a fun little one-night stand, and then mutually agree that now isn't the best time for dating. Unfortunately, their chemistry is just too much to resist. They start to spend more time together, falling in love at the most unexpected time. There's just one small problem- Kumail's Pakistani family, especially his mother (Zenobia Shroff), desperately want him to be married to a Pakistani woman. Arranged marriage is a prominent part of the culture, and Kumail's mother has been setting up a never-ending series of forced dates for her son, with each girl awkwardly hoping to impress him. Kumail plays along, putting the pictures of each of the women in a cigar box in his room.
It all goes swimmingly until Emily finds the box. Shocked to see that Kumail is "judging Pakistan's next top model," a heartbroken Emily slowly realizes that there's a good chance that the two will never end up together. She storms out, effectively ending the relationship. Kumail is devastated, but he moves on with his life. One night, Kumail receives a phone call from a friend of Emily who tells him that she's in the hospital with a bad infection. He rushes there, only to find out from the doctors that she needs to be put in a medically-induced coma. Over a whirlwind couple of weeks of tragedy and insanity, Kumail is able to bond with Emily's parents (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter), reflect on his own decisions, and come to terms with his culture and his family. The result is a journey that is part hilarious, part heartbreaking, and completely life-changing for Kumail and everyone involved.
Some movies are great because of their complexity and ambition, and others achieve greatness through much humbler methods. The Big Sick falls into the latter category- it never stretches to be something that it isn't, and its aspirations are modest to say the least. But even in the absence of flashier elements, this is a film made by people who know that they have a great story on their hands, and their love for the characters and the narrative is deeply felt at every turn. The Big Sick is a supremely confident movie, one keenly aware that realism and humanity are profoundly necessary to its success. The filmmakers and writers are in total control here, crafting an impressive balance between the humorous and the tragic, manipulating the audience in the most naturally affecting way possible. This is the romantic comedy at its most effortlessly engaging, a crowd-pleaser that isn't afraid to fit that exact bill.
Props to Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon though- it's no small task to write such an emotionally frank, messy portrayal of your own lives. The Big Sick may never veer too far into serious territory, but it has no qualms in depicting its characters as immensely flawed human beings, a choice that resonates as the film goes on. Kumail lies to his girlfriend and keeps everything from his parents, Emily is as reactionary as you can get, and her parents have their own inherent flaws that I won't divulge here. No character is perfect, but they're all genuinely good people, which is part of what makes this thing feel so refreshing. The Big Sick is about kind-hearted, funny people in extraordinary circumstances, and the changes they undergo throughout the story oddly manage to be both specific and universal. Everyone can find a little piece of themselves in this film, and that's what makes it such an enjoyable journey.
That level of empathy from the audience is not only generated from Nanjiani and Gordon's screenplay, but also from the performances of the main quartet of actors. While The Big Sick features a solid supporting crew that includes funny and engaging turns from Bo Burnham, Anupam Kher, and Zenobia Shroff, this film belongs entirely to the four main performers at the heart of this story. It's difficult to label what Kumail Nanjiani does here as a "performance," because he's basically playing himself, but in the midst of all the snark and deadpan charm of his character, he achieves a real sense of emotional depth during the most heartbreaking moments of the film. Zoe Kazan matches him well, and while she runs the risk of being typecast as this kind of character, she's terrific again. And if any performances are able to gain traction at the Oscars, it'll be the supporting turns of Ray Romano and Holly Hunter. While they begin as a foil for Kumail, Terry and Beth take on a life of their own, becoming sympathetic characters with complexities and relationship issues that you don't necessarily see coming. This was a pleasantly surprising twist for me, made all the better thanks to Romano's lovable dopiness and Hunter's fiery bluntness.
But even beyond the performances and the humanity of the screenplay, The Big Sick works for two reasons- it's funny as hell, and it'll hit your emotions at precisely the right points. Few movies have as many uproarious scenes or deeply affecting moments as this one, and even fewer movies would dare to blend these comedic and tragic highs together. The Big Sick will make you laugh out loud at an awkward conversation and then devastate you with a scene of unexpected pathos, all before mixing the hilarious and the heartwarming in a flash of sheer perfection. Nothing in this film feels forced, and even though Nanjiani, Gordon, and director Michael Showalter (who will likely end up being overlooked, despite his impressive workmanlike direction) pack a lot of material into a film that barely hits the 2 hour mark, not a single emotional beat rings false. This is as good as it gets.
If you're looking to take a chance on a smaller film this summer, The Big Sick is the one. Even if you go in expecting something great like I did, there's a good chance that you'll have your expectations blown out the water. You'll laugh, you'll tear up a bit, and you'll see one of the very best rom-coms to come out of Hollywood in years. It's a joyously funny film with a heart of gold, told with a level of easy-going empathy that generates laughter and tears in equal measure. It's not a film that reinvents the wheel, but it has a great story and it tells that story so well that you just can't help but fall in love. Believe the hype- The Big Sick hits all the right notes.
THE FINAL GRADE: A (9.2/10)
Images courtesy of Amazon
Plenty of genres have been on their last legs in recent years, but none have suffered quite as much as the romantic comedy. It's been such a rough stretch for the former staple of the Hollywood diet that you probably have to go all the way back to 2012's Silver Linings Playbook to find the last truly great one- unless you count La La Land, which is more of a musical romance for my money. In fact, the best romantic comedy of the last several years can actually be found on television in the form of Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang's Master of None, a show that is as gorgeously cinematic and hopelessly thrilling as any big-screen romance in recent memory. Hollywood has turned its back on great love stories, opting to throw more money at blockbusters and leaving Sundance to create arthouse hits like Marc Webb's 2009 classic (500) Days of Summer.
But eventually, the studios have to learn their lesson, right? Romance still sells, date movies are important, and great, emotional stories are critical to success at the box office. If Hollywood takes the right lessons from this summer, we could see some serious paradigm shifts. The latest evidence of the aforementioned trends comes in the form of The Big Sick, a Sundance breakout (surprise!) from comedian Kumail Nanjiani and producer Judd Apatow, who created a raunchier version of the romantic comedy with films like Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin. This film practically brought the house down at Sundance, and it has quickly emerged as the best counter-programming of the summer. Critics are absolutely loving it, and this film is practically the definition of a crowd-pleaser. I seriously didn't think that Michael Showalter's flick could live up to the hype- but it somehow managed to exceed my expectations. It's seriously funny, genuinely emotional, and grounded in warmth and compassion, a remarkable true story that is as poignant as it is truly hysterical. The Big Sick is a knockout, and a film that deserves every bit of praise and adoration that you can throw its way.
Kumail Nanjiani (played by none other than Kumail Nanjiani) is a struggling stand-up comic living in Chicago, performing on stage with his friends (Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, Kurt Braunohler) in the hopes of becoming successful. After a show one day, Kumail meets Emily Gardner (Zoe Kazan), a grad student who hopes to go into psychology. Kumail and Emily hit it off, have a fun little one-night stand, and then mutually agree that now isn't the best time for dating. Unfortunately, their chemistry is just too much to resist. They start to spend more time together, falling in love at the most unexpected time. There's just one small problem- Kumail's Pakistani family, especially his mother (Zenobia Shroff), desperately want him to be married to a Pakistani woman. Arranged marriage is a prominent part of the culture, and Kumail's mother has been setting up a never-ending series of forced dates for her son, with each girl awkwardly hoping to impress him. Kumail plays along, putting the pictures of each of the women in a cigar box in his room.
It all goes swimmingly until Emily finds the box. Shocked to see that Kumail is "judging Pakistan's next top model," a heartbroken Emily slowly realizes that there's a good chance that the two will never end up together. She storms out, effectively ending the relationship. Kumail is devastated, but he moves on with his life. One night, Kumail receives a phone call from a friend of Emily who tells him that she's in the hospital with a bad infection. He rushes there, only to find out from the doctors that she needs to be put in a medically-induced coma. Over a whirlwind couple of weeks of tragedy and insanity, Kumail is able to bond with Emily's parents (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter), reflect on his own decisions, and come to terms with his culture and his family. The result is a journey that is part hilarious, part heartbreaking, and completely life-changing for Kumail and everyone involved.
Some movies are great because of their complexity and ambition, and others achieve greatness through much humbler methods. The Big Sick falls into the latter category- it never stretches to be something that it isn't, and its aspirations are modest to say the least. But even in the absence of flashier elements, this is a film made by people who know that they have a great story on their hands, and their love for the characters and the narrative is deeply felt at every turn. The Big Sick is a supremely confident movie, one keenly aware that realism and humanity are profoundly necessary to its success. The filmmakers and writers are in total control here, crafting an impressive balance between the humorous and the tragic, manipulating the audience in the most naturally affecting way possible. This is the romantic comedy at its most effortlessly engaging, a crowd-pleaser that isn't afraid to fit that exact bill.
Props to Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon though- it's no small task to write such an emotionally frank, messy portrayal of your own lives. The Big Sick may never veer too far into serious territory, but it has no qualms in depicting its characters as immensely flawed human beings, a choice that resonates as the film goes on. Kumail lies to his girlfriend and keeps everything from his parents, Emily is as reactionary as you can get, and her parents have their own inherent flaws that I won't divulge here. No character is perfect, but they're all genuinely good people, which is part of what makes this thing feel so refreshing. The Big Sick is about kind-hearted, funny people in extraordinary circumstances, and the changes they undergo throughout the story oddly manage to be both specific and universal. Everyone can find a little piece of themselves in this film, and that's what makes it such an enjoyable journey.
That level of empathy from the audience is not only generated from Nanjiani and Gordon's screenplay, but also from the performances of the main quartet of actors. While The Big Sick features a solid supporting crew that includes funny and engaging turns from Bo Burnham, Anupam Kher, and Zenobia Shroff, this film belongs entirely to the four main performers at the heart of this story. It's difficult to label what Kumail Nanjiani does here as a "performance," because he's basically playing himself, but in the midst of all the snark and deadpan charm of his character, he achieves a real sense of emotional depth during the most heartbreaking moments of the film. Zoe Kazan matches him well, and while she runs the risk of being typecast as this kind of character, she's terrific again. And if any performances are able to gain traction at the Oscars, it'll be the supporting turns of Ray Romano and Holly Hunter. While they begin as a foil for Kumail, Terry and Beth take on a life of their own, becoming sympathetic characters with complexities and relationship issues that you don't necessarily see coming. This was a pleasantly surprising twist for me, made all the better thanks to Romano's lovable dopiness and Hunter's fiery bluntness.
But even beyond the performances and the humanity of the screenplay, The Big Sick works for two reasons- it's funny as hell, and it'll hit your emotions at precisely the right points. Few movies have as many uproarious scenes or deeply affecting moments as this one, and even fewer movies would dare to blend these comedic and tragic highs together. The Big Sick will make you laugh out loud at an awkward conversation and then devastate you with a scene of unexpected pathos, all before mixing the hilarious and the heartwarming in a flash of sheer perfection. Nothing in this film feels forced, and even though Nanjiani, Gordon, and director Michael Showalter (who will likely end up being overlooked, despite his impressive workmanlike direction) pack a lot of material into a film that barely hits the 2 hour mark, not a single emotional beat rings false. This is as good as it gets.
If you're looking to take a chance on a smaller film this summer, The Big Sick is the one. Even if you go in expecting something great like I did, there's a good chance that you'll have your expectations blown out the water. You'll laugh, you'll tear up a bit, and you'll see one of the very best rom-coms to come out of Hollywood in years. It's a joyously funny film with a heart of gold, told with a level of easy-going empathy that generates laughter and tears in equal measure. It's not a film that reinvents the wheel, but it has a great story and it tells that story so well that you just can't help but fall in love. Believe the hype- The Big Sick hits all the right notes.
THE FINAL GRADE: A (9.2/10)
Images courtesy of Amazon
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