Tag: Kumail Nanijani

  • ‘The Big Sick’ might be the best rom-com of the year

    ‘The Big Sick’ might be the best rom-com of the year

    Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanijani in ‘The Big Sick’

    “True love stories never have endings” – Richard Bach

    The Big Sick is based on the true story of its male lead, Kumail Nanijani (The Five-Year Engagement) and his wife, Emily V. Gordon (a talented writer).  The two of them co-wrote the screenplay.

    Kumail is a stand-up comedian of Pakistani descent who lives in Chicago.  So do his parents Azmat (Anumpam Kher – Silver Linings Playbook) and Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff – When Harry Tries to Marry).  There are weekly dinners that Kumail attends along with his brother Naveed (Adeel Akhtar – The Dictator).  Each week there is a knock at the door and saying the exact same thing every time, Sharmeen opens that door and in walks a Pakistani woman.  This is how Kumail’s parents are attempting to arrange his marriage per the custom that brought them together.  Kumail grins and bears these encounters and then goes home, carrying a photo and a resume of the woman.  These are tossed into a cigar box and immediately ignored.

    Kumail works as an Uber driver which enables him to spend as many nights as possible doing stand-up at a comedy club run by Andy (David Allen Grier – The Poker House).  He is close with several of the other comics who work the club, most of whom seem to be on the verge of “breaking” bigger.

    One night when Kumail is on stage, Emily (Zoe Kazan – Our Brand is Crisis) is in the audience with a friend and Emily “woo-hoos” during Kumail’s set.  His explanation of how a woo-hoo constitutes heckling results in his stopping by her table after his set.  They have a great first date and begin a relationship.

    A relationship that ends abruptly when Emily learns that Kumail has kept a number of things about him and the relationship hidden from Emily, and others.  Then comes a phone call from Emily’s friend to Kumail letting him know she is at the emergency room.  She asks him to go there as all of her friends are otherwise engaged.  He arrives and soon after, she is placed into a medically induced coma.

    Holly Hunter, Ray Romano and Kumail Nanijani in ‘The Big Sick’

    Her parents are summoned.  Her mother Beth (Holly Hunter – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and father Terry (Ray Romano – Rob the Mob) are surprised to find Kumail at the hospital.  Emily kept them very informed about her relationship and break-up with him.  As they wait together he eventually wins them over to varying degrees.

    It is in this part of the movie, as Kumail and Emily’s parent struggle to find a way to deal with an illness that is incredibly difficult to diagnose; that this film is at its best.  Beth and Terry have their own issues and they make for a nice subplot in the last act of the movie.  There is a scene where they go to watch Kumail doing stand-up that is also very well done.  Kumail may never become a leading man but he does an excellent job   He also has excellent on-screen chemistry with Zoe Kazan, who the camera simply adores.  There is tension, love and laughter in The Big Sick and it is well worth your time and money.

    [imdb id =tt5462602]

  • ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ desperately needs more laughs

    ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ desperately needs more laughs

    Jason Segel, Emily Blunt and Rhys Ifans in ‘The Five-Year Engagement

    I’m a big fan of Emily Blunt.

    I became a big fan of Jason Segel’s after his recent work in Jeff, Who Lives at Home.

    I’m a big fan of director Nicholas Stoller, after Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek.

    So what the heck happened to their newest collaboration, The Five-Year Engagement?

    I’m still wondering, more than a day after leaving the auditorioum as I shook my head over what I’d just seen.  The problem is, I went to see a movie marketed as being “from the producer ofBridesmaids, and this just wasn’t nearly funny enough.

    Segel is Tom Solomon, a chef with a good job in San Francisco, a very beautiful live-in girlfriend named Violet Barnes (Blunt) and on a special anniversary in their relationship, he proposes and she accepts.  They are cute, successful and very much in love.  Tom’s best friend “Alex” (Chris Pratt) works as another chef at the same restaurant and is a bit off the wall.  Violet’s sister, “Suzie” (Alison Brie) and Alex will be major factors in the story that follows.

    Tom and Violet throw the obligatory engagement party and things start to fall apart there, including a funny bit by Alex that’s featured prominently in the film’s trailer.  Afterwards, the wedding has to be put off.  Seems Violet’s been accepted into a post-doctoral teaching program in Michigan and Tom, being a good trooper, volunteers to quit his job and go with her.  That’s an ill-timed decision, as his boss tells him she was going to name him head chef at her new restaurant, just after he gives notice.  That job will instead go to Alex.

    Chris Pratt and Jason Segel in ‘The Five-Year Engagement’

    Violet’s job at Michigan goes well, thanks to the fact that her new boss, “Winton Childs” (Rhys Ifans, who was so damn funny in Notting Hill) is clearly warm for her form.  She is working with others who are also competing with her for a tenured position on the faculty, although this competition is not made clear to the audience until later.

    Remember that engagement party?  Seems that Alex and Suzie hooked up that night and as a result, they’re expecting a child.  Naturally, that means they have to get married, so they will get to the altar first.  Alex is doing well as the chef of Clambar, the restaurant that Tom was supposed to be helming, and their marriage is cute.  So is their child, who we see more of later.

    Tom does not do well in Michigan.  He can’t find work as a chef and ends up working at a bakery.  He doesn’t like the weather, although he does make friends and learns some new things.  He goes through quite a transformation at one point.

    Eventually, Violet gets something that’s destined to change the lives of herself and Tom.  That promotion, which means she’ll be in Michigan for a few more years and Tom’s not sure he’s down with extending his time in Michigan.  They try to get married, but things happen to prevent that wedding from coming off, just before it’s scheduled to do so.

    They are on a downhill path from there, until finally, they conclude it was not meant to be, and Tom returns to San Francisco.  What happens from here you will only learn if you watch the film, although I’m not sure I can recommend paying full price to see it.

    Clearly the most and best laughs are in the final act, and it is here that The Five-Year Engagement manages to redeem itself a little.  The problem is that the laughs to get to this point which can be very funny were too few and far between to make it worth the wait.

    That’s the basic problem with comedies, they need to make you laugh consistently, not occasionally.  Segel and Blunt are attractive, fun to watch, but the few good bits from the film’s trailer don’t make up for the long, unfunny sequences between.