I was all set to review this movie and talk about what I considered to be its major flaw before I did one thing first…I looked at other reviews and learned that this film is based on a true story. So rather than belabor the point I wanted to make, I’ll reference it a little later in the review and talk more about its merits and more minor flaws. Before I begin, I’ll mention that I didn’t think Michael Showalter’s (Hello, My Name is Doris) The Big Sick was marketed all that well when released over the summer. First of all, the movie’s title, its poster, its actors, and even its plot didn’t make sense. Through in that Judd Apatow’s name was attached to it, and you had the thought that this was a raunchy comedy, much in the mold of Trainwreck, This Is 40, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and a host of other movies he didn’t even direct but was affiliated with as a producer or screenwriter. The Big Sick felt out of place from the start. It took word of mouth for this movie really to get noticed and appreciated by audiences (despite its 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). If anything, moviegoers were told that this movie was more like This Is 40 than any of Apatow’s other films, but even that film received more leeway because it was a sequel to Knocked Up, which was as foul-mouthed as they come. It didn’t help that The Big Sick had a cast of relative unknowns. Sure it had Ray Romano (television’s Everybody Loves Raymond, television’s Parenthood) and Holly Hunter (The Piano, The Firm). Still, these two, while having a decent amount of screentime, clearly supported the two leads. Kumail Nanjiani (HBO’s Silicon Valley, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates), a relatively unknown time, penned and starred in this film as himself. It was a calculated risk that clearly paid off in the end. Another relative unknown, Zoe Katan (Revolutionary Road, The Savages), stars opposite Nanjiani as his on-again/off-again girlfriend Emily. They work as a couple, and the trials and tribulations experienced by each aren’t completely far-fetched. Heck, it’s based on a true story, so some might say they aren’t far-fetched at all. This movie surprised me with how much I enjoyed it and how engaged I was with it, despite its unevenness (at times) and that its conclusion could be seen all miles away.
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