The Big Sick Had Some Glaring Flaws
But that’s ok.
The Big Sick, written by Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani based off their own romance, has been deemed one of the best romantic comedies to come out in recent memory. Hapless Pakistani American comedian Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) falls in love with quirky grad student Emily (Zoe Kazan) but his inability to stand up for himself to his parents (Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff) leads to the two breaking things off. But Emily gets life-threateningly sick, soon after their breakup, and Kumail is forced to confront his feelings for Emily through striking up a relationship with her equally quirky parents (Holly Hunter, Ray Romano) and the lie of a life he’s living.
Two of our writers, Arjun Bhattacharya and Renu Gharpure Kohlmann, have a conversation below about what went right and wrong in the Judd Apatow-produced rom-com.
Arjun: That was a cute movie. It was really funny, and the acting was really solid. But given all that, I don’t think I liked it as much as I wanted to. It’s probably because the material, both comedic and dramatic, is a little overplayed for people of our complexion. I think we have to start with the rom-com aspects of the movie. That’s where it all went right, and I don’t just mean the chemistry between Nanjiani and Kazan, but also between Nanjiani, Romano, and Hunter. Gordon and Nanjiani really knew how to make you feel a spectrum of emotions without losing any self-awareness in the dialogue.
Renu: Not to mention Kazan had about 20 minutes of screen time to make the whole audience fall in love with her completely. We had to believe she and Kumail were meant to be together or the rest of the movie would be strained and feel totally false. So she really nailed it on that front — I was convinced by their relationship.
Although I will say the “quick-witted, quirky, slightly hipster” persona feels trendy right now. But hey, the screenplay was co-written by the real Emily, so how can I argue with that? Back to why this movie is unique: it’s a love story told through the main character’s relationships with his parents and his future in-laws. That’s its edge, its “something new.” Obviously it is a true story, but this true story didn’t lose its truth on its way to the screen. The relationships with parents and (future) in-laws play huge roles in a lot of actual relationships. But rom-coms don’t usually focus on that.
Arjun: Oh yes, Zoe Kazan was so charming and perfect as Emily. And you’re right, the plot focused a lot on Kumail’s self-discovery through how he interacted differently with all the adults in his life, and the majority of the film that had Romano and Hunter on-screen with Nanjiani was the absolute best. But I think the movie failed in how it approached the portrayal of Kumail’s parents. Granted, I don’t think Gordon and Nanjiani really set out to do much more than just entertain us for two hours (which they certainly did), but I think that in the process of optimizing the comedic value of the script, they ended up trivializing the point of view of Kumail’s parents. I don’t think the whole host of Pakistani women showing up and the “we’ll kick you out of the family if you marry a white girl” is all that topical anymore, and all it did was make the parents out to be complete kooks. Funny kooks, but kooks nonetheless.
Renu: Agreed. They were one-sided. Their perspective was totally lost on me — I couldn’t see any reasoning. In some ways I wonder if my being Indian makes it harder or easier to understand their outlook. Generationally speaking, shouldn’t Kumail’s family life and culture feel similar to mine? It didn’t. It felt worlds away. Gordon and Nanjiani gave Terry and Beth rich personalities with backstories and interests on top of their comedic antics but they didn’t give Kumail’s parents the same opportunity to shine. I mean, I can’t even remember their names! (Edit: their names are Azmat and Sharmeen.) Maybe it was intentional — having Kumail get to know Emily’s parents when he doesn’t know a thing about his own parents. Even if it was intentional, though, I don’t think they pulled it off, because his parents ended up coming off as…well, kind of jerks.
Arjun: I feel like Anupam Kher was wasted in his role at Kumail’s dad. To put it into context for those who’re unfamiliar with him, he’s quite easily the best and most famous Indian character actor of all time. He’s like if you crossed Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti and then gave him a historic 35 year career. And he was relegated to being a caricature of the South Asian dad that Russell Peters portrayed in his original stand-up special.
But the three line exchange near the end between Kumail and his father when Kumail asks about his mother and father’s first date movie was endearing. It hinted at that transformation in Kumail’s relationship with his parents, even though it was bookended with his mother acting like an insolent child. Also, speaking of casting, what the fuck was up with casting entirely non-South Asian Vella Lovell as the terrible accent-wielding Khadijah? That question will be left as rhetorical.
Renu: The way things ended with Kumail’s parents was almost right for me. I loved his last exchange with his dad. (Irrelevant Sidenote: that mutton biryani did not look like real mutton biryani).
Arjun: Oh, you are so right about that biryani. It looked like it had a bunch of drumsticks, and last I checked, goats have legs and not drumsticks. BUT, recall that Azmat does mention that Sharmeen (are you sure those are really the names?) added extra potatoes just like Kumail likes it. So, maybe what appeared to be drumsticks were actually enormous fucking potatoes… I don’t buy it. THIS IS A CRATER OF A PLOTHOLE AND TOTALLY DETRACTED FROM MY MOVIE-GOING EXPERIENCE.
Renu: Calm down. I’m fairly certain that his mom’s presence in the scene was supposed to signify that she loves him and will eventually forgive him but is way too proud to admit any of that. But, at the same time, the moment felt like a caricature. It made me laugh more than it gave me insight. I’m convinced that being brown has made us way more critical than we would otherwise be — like I said, the love story aspect was lovely — endearing and realistic. But because this representation of a brown immigrant family doesn’t feel relevant to me, I find it shallow. And because Kumail is presented as being an oddball in his family’s circle, he seems like an exception to a community of otherwise stereotypical Pakistanis.
Arjun: I can totally see that. I will say, however, that the movie’s depiction of a family of Pakistani Muslims, who pray regularly and don’t drink and do all the other stereotypical Muslim things that American pop culture dictates that Muslims do, as extremely normal and utterly American was so refreshing, even though it was obviously expected.
I do feel like we’ve been overly critical of the movie. Yes, it has its flaws, which we’ve outlined (maybe too extensively), but here’s the bottom line: the movie’s a rom-com, produced by Apatow. Did the movie make us laugh? Yes, it made us laugh obnoxiously, so much so that our fellow movie-goers were a little peeved at us. Did the movie make you feel things? I’m pretty sure it did that, as well. Was the story fresh and original? Yes it was, as were its characters. And that’s all you need for a great rom-com movie-going experience.
