The Big Sick
The Big Sick is a 2017 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher. Gordon and Nanjiani wrote the film based on their relationship; it follows an interracial couple who must deal with cultural differences after Emily becomes ill.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017. It began a limited theatrical release on June 23, 2017, by Amazon Studios and Lionsgate, before going wide on July 14, 2017. One of the most acclaimed films of 2017, it was chosen by American Film Institute as one of the top 10 films of the year and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. With a budget of $5 million, it grossed $56 million worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing independent films of 2017.
Plot
Kumail is a struggling stand-up comedian in Chicago, who performs at the local comedy club in exchange for putting out chairs. One night, he hooks up with an audience member, Emily, who attends his show. Kumail and she hit it off and spend more time together.Eventually, Kumail introduces Emily to his friends from the club, Mary, CJ and his roommate, Chris. She wants to know about his family too, but he deflects any discussion because his family demands he marry a fellow Pakistani per their custom.
One afternoon, while at his apartment, Emily sees pictures of Pakistani-American women in Kumail's cigar box. Kumail explains the Pakistani custom of arranged marriage to her. So, Emily realises he has been secretly meeting other girls for marriage. Seeing no future with Kumail, she breaks up with him.
To distract himself, Kumail chooses to focus on improving his standup. After a modestly successful set, he bags an audition for the Montreal Comedy Festival. Kumail seems to be moving on, but receives a call that same evening from Emily's friend, informing him that Emily has been admitted to the hospital and asking him to be by her side.
As Kumail is the only person there for her, he is forced by doctors to sign a form allowing them to place Emily in an induced coma. He is shocked, but does so. Staff tell Kumail to inform Emily's parents, when he does, they react similarly, then fly in the next day from North Carolina.
Emily's mother Beth resents Kumail for breaking up with Emily, but her father Terry is more sympathetic. Eventually, they both warm up to Kumail, and even attend one of his shows at the club. Kumail falls out with his own parents, after telling them about Emily and refusing to marry a girl of their choice.
The stress makes Kumail fail his Montreal festival audition. Emily makes a recovery and awakes, but she is not happy to see him. She refuses his offer to get back together, saying she despises him now and that he makes her sad.
Heeding Mary and CJ's advice, Kumail decides to move with them to New York City to focus on his career. He informs his parents, who are upset at his recent decisions, both for the comedy and for his confession of having fallen in love with a white woman. Before Kumail leaves, Emily stops by his one-man show.
Emily and Kumail talk, and she reveals she had seen his Montreal audition set.. Kumail reveals his upcoming move to NYC.
In NYC, Kumail seems to be settling in. He performs at the local club, and during his set is heckled by an audience member. This turns out to be Emily, who is there to see him. As film credits roll, real-life photographs onscreen show that Emily and Kumail end up getting married with a Pakistani ceremony.
Production
Development
In December 2015, it was announced Kumail Nanjiani would star in the film from a screenplay written by him and wife Emily V. Gordon, while Judd Apatow would produce alongside Barry Mendel, under their Apatow Productions banner, while FilmNation Entertainment would finance the film. Michael Andrews composed the film's score.Casting
In February 2016, Zoe Kazan joined the cast, along with Holly Hunter and Ray Romano in April 2016. Unlike many of the other portrayals in The Big Sick, Romano's and Hunter's roles in the film were not modeled after Emily V. Gordon's actual parents. Instead, Hunter said that she never contacted or spoke with Gordon's mother before playing the part, as she wanted to "feel my own freedom with the character". In May 2016, Aidy Bryant, Bo Burnham, Adeel Akhtar and Kurt Braunohler also joined the cast of the film. David Alan Grier was cast in The Big Sick after he met with Gordon when she was a writer for The Carmichael Show. Grier's role was part of a larger subplot that was ultimately cut from the film's release.Anupam Kher's casting in the film was reported in June 2016. He was directly contacted by Kumail Nanjiani, as Nanjiani's father had recommended Kher play the role. According to Kher, his character's last scene in the film was the first scene he had filmed for the production. The Big Sick marks Kher's 500th appearance in a feature film.
Writing
The screenplay for The Big Sick is written by Emily V. Gordon and her husband Kumail Nanjiani and is loosely based on the real-life courtship between them before their marriage in 2007. According to Nanjiani, the idea to make a script about them was first inspired by the film's eventual co-producer Judd Apatow when the two met while appearing in a 2012 episode of the You Made It Weird podcast. Developed over the course of three years, the script has been called semi-autobiographical because, in addition to the two lead characters modeled after them, many of the events occurring during Gordon and Nanjiani's relationship are noted as being portrayed to an extent in the film.Though not part of the original script, a real-life incident involving Holly Hunter heckling an unnamed player during a US Open tennis match inspired a similar scene in the film where Nanjiani's character is heckled during one of his stand-up sets.
Filming
began on May 11, 2016.Release
The Big Sick premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017. Shortly after, Amazon Studios acquired distribution rights to the film, after bids from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Focus Features and Paramount Pictures. The $12 million acquisition marked the second-largest deal of the 2017 festival. Lionsgate partnered with Amazon on the U.S. release, and spent around $20 million on marketing the film. It also screened at South by Southwest on March 16, 2017, where it won an Audience Award in the category Festival Favorites. The film began a limited release on June 23, 2017, before going wide on July 14, 2017.Controversy
There was backlash against the movie due to South Asian women being portrayed as stereotypical and undesirable. Also, Vella Lovell, a half White and Black actress who is not of South Asian descent, played a Pakistani love interest with a strained accent.In 2021, Kumail Nanjiani said, "Our movie was the first one in a long time where there were multiple Desi female characters, and the first few you see are reduced...People wanted to see themselves. It's something I completely regret. I would not do it that way now."
Reception
Box office
The Big Sick grossed $42.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $13.4 million in other territories, for a total gross of $56.2 million.In the film's limited opening weekend, it made $421,577 from five theaters, finishing 17th at the box office. The film expanded to 2,597 theaters on July 14, 2017, and was projected to gross $9–11 million over the weekend. It grossed $7.6 million over the weekend, finishing fifth at the box office. On July 25, the film crossed $26 million, becoming the second highest-grossing independent film of 2017.
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 303 reviews, with an average rating of 8.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Funny, heartfelt, and intelligent, The Big Sick uses its appealing leads and cross-cultural themes to prove the standard romcom formula still has some fresh angles left to explore." It was rated as Rotten Tomatoes' #1 summer movie of 2017. On Metacritic, the film received an average score of 86 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.In a review for the Toronto Star, Peter Howell gave The Big Sick four stars out of four, praising the film as "hilarious and heartbreaking", as well as applauding the performances of the entire cast. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film: "It is funny and smart and wise and silly, it is romantic and sweet and just cynical enough, and it is without a doubt one of the best romantic comedies I have seen in a long time." The Big Sick was also selected as an "NYT Critic's Pick" by Manohla Dargis of The New York Times. In her review, Dargis praised Michael Showalter's direction and the screenplay by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani for "revitalizing an often moribund subgenre with a true story of love, death and the everyday comedy of being a 21st-century American."
While praising the lead performances, Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph wrote a mixed review for The Big Sick. Collin contends that director Showalter "never comes close to dampening down its leading couple's inextinguishable appeal." In a negative review for The New Yorker, Richard Brody wrote that the film "suffers from an excess of pleasantness, and this very pleasantness thins out its substance, blands out its tone, weakens its comedy."