"The Big Sick" (2017 release; 124 min.) brings the (real life) story of Kumail and Emily. As the movie opens, we get archive video footage of Kumail's youth in Pakistan. We then switch to today, and Kumail is doing a stand-up routine at a Chicago comedy club. In the audience is Emily, who unknowingly heckles him when she shouts out "woohoo!". After the show Kumail seeks out Emily, and before we know it, they hook up and fall in love (without admitting so). Meanwhile Kumail's family puts huge pressure on him to marry a "good Pakistani girl". At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from director Michael Showalter, who just last year gave us the excellent "Hello, My Name is Doris". But truth be told, this movie is more about the writers, Kumail Nanjiani (who stars as himself) and Emily Gordon (played by Zoe Kazan). If you've seen the trailer (which was hard to escape in recent weeks), the movie plays out EXACTLY as advertised. I am not spoiling anything (check the movie's title) when I say that Emily incurs a major medical scare, and it provides plenty of opportunity for extended interaction between Emily's parents (played by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) and Kumail, "Loving someone so much sucks", pines Emily's dad as they deal with EMily's situation. A surprisingly sizeable portion of the movie is devoted to exploring the huge cultural differences facing Pakistanis living in the US, and the ensuing family pressure on Pakistanis to do things the "right" (Pakistani) way. The movie is a bit too long for its own good, and sharper editing could've easily trimmed the running time by about 15 min. without losing anything essential from the flow of the movie. But in the end it's a minor quibble, as "The Big Sick" is a sweet love story that will tug at your heart.

"The Big Sick" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati on, not one, but two screens, a rarity. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at was PACKED to the rafters, I am happy to day (of course, anything less would've been disappointing, as that was the movie's opening night). If you are in the mood for a nice love story with good comedy undercurrents, I'd readily suggest you check out "The Big Sick", be it in the theater, on Amazon Instant Video, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

Theater review. Possible spoilers. Those of you who watch HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” will certainly recognize Kumail Nanjiani as a programmer on the comedy. For me, the byplay between his character Dinesh and Gilfloyle (Martin Starr) is the best thing on the show. The Pakistani born Nanjiani’s real life story is brought to the screen by director Michael Showalter (“Hello, My Name Is Doris”). It is actually written by Nanijani and his real life wife, Emily V. Gordon.

Nanijani plays himself in the movie and Zoe Kazan plays Emily. They originally meet at a Chicago comedy club where Nanijani is performing. Emily, there with a friend, yelps out an exclamatory which Kumail calls heckling after confronting her at the bar after the set. They both are good natured about it and talk it up. One thing leads to another and they plan further get togethers.

While Kumail shares an apartment with another comedian (Kurt Braunohler), he often eats dinner with his Pakistani family. His parents (Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff) regularly entertain Kumail, his brother (Adeel Akhtar) and his wife (Shenaz Treasury). Part of the ritual is that mom always “surprises” Kumail with a potential bride, all of Pakistani origin. Not wanted to be exiled by his family, Kumail keeps his relationship with the very white Emily under wraps. The secret is eventually discovered by Emily which leads to a grudging breakup.

Kumail is awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call from one of Emily’s friends telling him that she is in the ER and that he needs to go be with her. He does and needs to make a potentially life or death decision as to whether to put her in a medically induced coma. He does. He then calls Emily’s parents who live in North Carolina. When they arrive, Terry (Ray Romano) and Beth (Holly Hunter) seem very aware of who Kumail is, including the fact that he and Emily had just broken up. Beth suggest that while they appreciate his concern and willingness to stay with Emily, he is no longer needed. Of course, Kumail declines.

Eventually over the next several days, the trio begin to spend time together and of course soften up. Both Romano and Hunter are great, providing a nice mix of humorous behavior, love for their daughter and increasing affection for Kumail. What is great about the writing is that both Kumail and Terry’s attempt at jokes generally fall flat…but are still very funny because they do. This film has wonderful emotion, funny bits and is smart as hell. The characters are real and you want everything to work out. This is not only the best comedy I’ve seen this year but one of the best films of any genre. See it!

This is such a wonderful film. I was excited to see it after the Sundance Buzz started in January.

It is funny and heartwarming, yet heartbreaking. It manages to send you on a roller coaster of emotions but does it in a way that is so perfect that you're never left staying in one place for too long.

Because of it's basis on a real-life story, it has a lot of reality in it. It's not a perfect, guy meets girl, guy screws up, guy holds boombox outside and girl falls in love with him kinda thing. Yes, they fall in love... and yes, he does screw up, but it is so much more than that.

Do yourself a favor and watch this film! I promise, you won't regret it!

The most intriguing thing about this movie, is that it was totally unexpected... the main characters were neither "good looking", or had any kind of pretense about them. That's why this turned out to be a real sleeper. I am so sick of the plotless dribble that is passed off as good writing, with mega-stars whose looks are the reason they're in the roles in the first place. My wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed the story as it played out, but I have to admit, I found it surprising (and endearing) that this was not a typical "Judd Apatow" movie... not a lot of raunchy (crude) entendres, sex or other unnecessary juvenile behavior. It was just a great story about an unlikely couple whose backgrounds prevent them from having a "normal" relationship... And seeing the awesome Holly Hunter and Ray Romano only added to the delight...I LOVED IT!