REVIEW: Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani shines in a superb rom-com inspired by his own life

REVIEW: Culture-clash comedy meets medical tear-jerker with spectacular success in The Big Sick, a true story starring comedian Kumail Nanjiani, best known for Silicon Valley.

The Big Sick (M)

Rating: **** 1/2

Director: Michael Showalter

Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano

Verdict: Hilarious and heartfelt — a superb romantic comedy

CULTURE-clash comedy meets medical tear-jerker with spectacular success in The Big Sick, a true story starring comedian and hitherto Hollywood bit player Kumail Nanjiani, best known for the sitcom Silicon Valley.

Like Amy Schumer and Kristen Wiig before them, Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon co-wrote their autobiographical script with the mentoring of producer Judd Apatow, and the result is the best thing Apatow has had his name on since Bridesmaids.

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Holly Hunter, Ray Romano and Kumail Nanjiani find common ground in difficult circumstances in The Big Sick.

Nanjiani plays himself as a man who lives two lives.

There’s his everyday life as a struggling Chicago stand-up comic and Uber driver, and there’s the life he pretends to lead for the benefit of his parents (played by Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff) — that of a devout Muslim destined for an arranged marriage.

Kumail meets Emily (Zoe Kazan) at one of his gigs and their chemistry is immediate and sparkling.

They begin a relationship, abruptly curtailed when Zoe realises Kumail has no intention of telling his parents about his white, non-Muslim girlfriend and that he plans to continue to submit to his mother’s repetitive ritual of introducing him to eligible Pakistani women who just happen to “drop by” during family dinners.

A medical emergency brings Kumail Nanjiani, right, and Zoe Kazan together. Picture: Lionsgate via AP

A medical emergency brings Kumail to Zoe’s bedside and throws him into the company of her distraught parents Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano), who are perplexed and annoyed by the presence of their daughter’s ex while she is lying in a coma.

The best rom-coms have a whole lot more going on in them than boy meets girl, and the real meat of The Big Sick is Kumail getting to know Beth and Terry.

Hunter and Romano give beautiful performances as a couple working through their issues from within a daze of stress and anxiety.

When Terry tentatively asks Kumail for his take on 9/11, Kumail’s joking response might just be the funniest line of the year.

Nanjiani is a wonderful screen presence, combining George Clooney good looks with a kind of soft-spoken gormlessness.

In one of his stand-up routines we see him talk about being the kind of guy who dies early in horror movies so that the white characters can learn what they’re up against.

Here’s hoping Nanjiani makes it all the way to the end of many more movies to come.

OPENS THURSDAY

Originally published as REVIEW: Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani shines in a superb rom-com inspired by his own life