The Big Sick

I love listening to podcasts, and one of the podcasts I’ve listened to is The X-Files Files with Kumail Nanjiani, who always has different guest hosts to discuss episode of The X-Files and whatever topics they digress to. Through this podcast I have also heard quite a bit from his wife Emily, as well as gotten bits and pieces of info about her earlier illness.

So when I saw that they had actually made a movie about their story, I was quite intrigued. And I must say they did an excellent job. Not only did I laugh out loud at many parts, I also got really wrapped up in these characters and their relationships. I believe that was because this was both a very personal story for them to tell, but also because the writing felt very natural and the acting was excellent.

Nanjiani is a very likable comedic presence while the cast around him was also great. Zoe Kazan as Emily is a very engaging personality and the chemistry the two built was palpable. Roy Romano was very well as Emily’s father, bringing both humour and pathos to the role. And Holly Hunter as Emily’s mom was simply excellent, going through all her character’s changes expertly.

I highly recommend The Big Sick. Its emotional, funny, and full of likable and watchable characters. It says a lot about relationships and, more importantly, lets you in to experience those relationships. I was the only one in the theater watching this movie (seriously, the only one), which was really too bad. More people should see this.

9/10