'The Big Sick' Review: Not your typical rom-com! Must see!

8.2/10
Directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani

Starring: Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar and Anupam Kher

Director Michael Showalter's engaging, thoughtful film is most easily billed as a romantic comedy, but it has far more depth and dimension than your typical rom-com. For one thing, Emily is comatose for atleast half the movie, which means Kumail's primary relationships shift to the new, often-shaky ones he's forming with his future in-laws, Beth and Terry and the longstanding but sometimes almost as shaky ones he has with his own parents. Having to step up on his own, with Emily out of the picture, is what finally helps Kumail to grow up and move forward in his own life.

It's also what yields some of The Big Sick's funniest and most touching scenes. While early interactions between Kumail and Emily and Kumail and his comic buddies are funny and a tad bit cute if I do say so myself, they're nothing we haven't seen in indie romantic comedies before. But then on the other hand the scenes of Kumail getting to know Beth and Terry feel fresh and different; strangers thrown together by circumstance not fate nor chance, they bond over everything from stress eating to talking about the one thing they do have in common: Emily. Only real life could have produced a story with these kinds of twists and turns. Thankfully, because The Big Sick is based on Kumail and Emily's actual rollercoaster relationship, we know in the end that it will all turn out all right, with a lot of laughs and significant insights along the way, this film is sure to leave a Mark on your heart.