While The Big Sick is considered a romantic comedy, the writing is brilliant, and it has a sense of real life drama throughout the film. This isn’t surprising considering that Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon wrote this story based on their actual lives. The first half of the movie is showing aspects of how Kumil and Emily fall in love, while also talking about the cultural differences between your typical Pakistani and American families.

Kumail spends much of the film struggling with how he feels about Emily (Zoe Kazan), and admitting to his family that he doesn’t want to be in an arranged marriage. The movie takes a major turn about halfway through, causing Kumail and Emily to break up. This is when the movie really starts to kick into another gear.

Kumail gets a call, finding out that Emily is in the hospital. He ends up having to make an extremely tough decision and this is when Emily’s parents come into the picture, played by Ray Romano and Holly Hunter. The dynamic between these three characters, as they all come to grip with the hope that Emily will get better, then the possibility that they will lose her is something completely unexpected, but brilliant.

Play Your Way Network Rating:  ★★★★☆

This is a movie you need to see while in the sea of remakes and sequels.

The movie of course has it’s funny moments, Kumail is a comedian after all. And the love between him and Emily, and also Terry and Beth is something that hits close to home. What I believe makes this movie shine is the fact that it constantly feels real. Nothing feels phoned in or forced, and not a single moment seems disingenuous. Everyone has real internal battles, and Emily’s sickness helps them all realize their flaws. Amazon Studios hits another movie out of the park, and expect The Big Sick to be nominated for awards come Oscar season. This is a movie you need to see while in the sea of remakes and sequels.