The Big Sick (2017)

Jack and I loved this funny and touching movie about the early relationship of a couple whose issues range from his traditional Pakistani family to her being in a coma. Written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, who are now married, much of the story comes from their true experiences. Nanjiani (first came to our attention as Pindar in 31 episodes of Franklin & Bash, then one each of Broad City and Inside Amy Schumer, two of Community, 38 of Silicon Valley, and a small part in Hello, My Name Is Doris) and Zoe Kazan (after Ruby Sparks she was in Our Brand Is Crisis) star as Kumail and Emily.

Brilliant casting provides Holly Hunter (my favorites are The Piano (1983) for which she won an Oscar, Broadcast News (1987), The Firm (1993), and Thirteen (2003) (she was nominated for all three), also Raising Arizona (1987), Once Around (1991), The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993), Crash (1996) (I often refer to a scene in Crash where she's one of the people addicted to the rush of car crashes, and she's in the hospital, limping and hunched over, then sees the handsome James Spader in the hall, straightens up, and begins walking slowly and regally), Living Out Loud (1998), Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000), O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000), Nine Lives (2005), and Top of the Lake) and Ray Romano (I didn't see any Ice Age movies nor any full episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, but did like Welcome to Mooseport (2004), 22 episodes of Men of a Certain Age, and 44 of Parenthood) as Emily's parents. We learned from the WTF with Marc Maron podcast (here's a link to the episode but I suggest waiting until after you've seen the movie to listen) that they cast big Bollywood star Anupam Kher (his US credits include Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Silver Linings Playbook) as Kumail's father and quite a few comedians, including Aidy Bryant from SNL, to work in the comedy clubs with Kumail. As a big fan of the series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I was glad to see Vella Lovell, who plays Rebecca's sarcastic friend Heather in that series, as one of Kumail's prospective arranged brides.

Nanjiani and Gordon were happy to get Michael Showalter, who directed Hello, My Name Is Doris, to helm this one, based in part on how kind Showalter was to his wacky title character in the earlier movie. No surprise that comedy guru Judd Apatow is one of the producers of this project.

Nice indie movie music by Michael Andrews (last in these pages for scoring The Heat) can be streamed from this spotify link and there are lots of songs (here's a list) including Beck Devil's Haircut.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 97% and I guess not enough audience members have voted to give it a second number. It played in only 326 movie houses last week but will be going wide with some neighborhood theatres starting tonight. It is definitely one to see.