Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan in The Big Sick (Amazon Studios)

 How’s this for a romantic comedy premise? A Pakistani-born, struggling comedian goes against his conservative Muslim parents’ wishes to get a traditional arranged marriage and dates a white girl behind their backs, then she suddenly gets sick with an unknown illness and is placed in an induced coma. If that sounds a little too strange for fiction, then that’s because it is the true story of comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon. 

Nanjiani has been around the comedy scene for quite a while, and in the last few years has been popping up in supporting roles, most notably as Dinesh in HBO’s Silicon Valley. Eventually he crossed paths crossed with Judd Apatow, who, along with co-producer Barry Mendel, commissioned Nanijiani and Gordon to write their unbelievable story. Stepping into the director shoes is Michael Showalter, hot off the success of Hello, My Name Is Doris and Netflix’s Wet, Hot, American Summer: First Day of Camp. Add in supporting performances by Ray Romano and the Holly Hunter and this dream team has crafted one of the indie highlights of the year. 

Nanjiani plays a version of himself, back when he was doing comedy club gigs in Chicago, where he meets Emily (played by Zoe Kazan), who is in grad school to become a therapist. Both are focused on their careers, so they agree that neither of them is looking to get into a serious relationship. They adhere to Kumail’s “two day” rule, which stipulates that keeping two days time between seeing each other means they aren’t technically a couple and therefore are keeping it casual. Of course, the two like each other so much that they end up breaking the rule and wind up in a real relationship.   

The major obstacle standing in the couple’s way—that is, before the aforementioned coma—iis Kumail’s parents, who will disown him if he doesn’t agree to an arranged marriage. The women his family set him up with are not all duds, but Kumail wants to live what he believes to be an American life. To his mother and father (played by Zenobia Shroff and Bollywood legend Anupam Kher), his comedy is just a hobby, and they fully expect him to find a good career and settle into a traditional Muslim life. What they don’t know is that comedy is Kumail’s career choice and —the big one—he hasn’t prayed in years. 

Once Emily gives him an ultimatum, he decides to go back to his preordained life, and the couple break up. So that is where the second-act break up would occur in a traditional romcom. However, as this is based on true life, the unexpected happens: Emily becomes very sick. Ex-boyfriend or not, Kumail is still a devoted guy. Not only does he stay the night with her in the ICU but he falsely claims he is her husband and signs the order for her to be put into an induced coma. 

The next day, her parents, Beth and Terry (Hunter and Romano), show up. Kumail should be off the hook, but as stated before, he’s a devoted guy, so he keeps coming back to the hospital and hanging with her parents until Emily’s medical condition is resolved.  

If Hello, My Name Is Doris was Showalter’s Woody Allen film, then The Big Sick is his James L. Brooks outing. That’s fitting, considering Holly Hunter was the lead in Brooks’s 1987’s Broadcast News (1987). Similarities between The Big Sick and Brooks’s movies are clear and present and very welcome: the mixture of romance, comedy, and heavy drama. The story that takes its time to develop the characters, allowing them to have real, deep moments with each other. Most memorably, the night before an exploratory surgery, Kumail, Beth, and Terry scavenge whatever alcohol Emily has in her apartment and get drunk together. What occurs between the three of them is a courtship all of its own. Of course, Hunter is on her game as always, but what is most surprising is the chemistry between Romano and Nanjiani, as one generation connects with the next.  

The Big Sick is a film that juggles many balls at once and manages to make it to the ending without dropping a single one. There isn’t enough space to go on at length about everything that stands out. Kazan is a delight, and Kumail’s family dinners could also be a weekly series. His fellow performers at the comedy club, portrayed by Aidy Bryant, Bo Burnham, and Kurt Braunohler, work very well off each other. Then there’s Nanjiani. Hats off to him for his first big film role, with the added weight of having to play himself. No doubt we haven’t seen the last of him.