THE BIG SICK | FAMILY MOVIE REVIEW INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND KIDS

"THE BIG SICK"
(2017) (Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan) (R)

QUICK TAKE:: Romantic Comedy: A stand-up comedian must contend with his traditional Pakistani parents wanting him to marry a woman via an arranged marriage, all while he's fallen for an American girl who's now in a medically-induced coma.

PLOT:

Kumail (KUMAIL NANJIANI) is a stand-up comedian from Pakistan who's trying to make it big via the comedy clubs in Chicago, much like his roommate, Chris (KURT BRAUNOHLER), and their friends, CJ (BO BURNHAM) and Mary (AIDY BRYANT). While dealing with that pressure, he must also contend with his parents, Azmat (ANUPAM KHER) and Sharmeen (ZENOBIA SHROFF), wanting him to marry someone via an arranged marriage, much like his brother, Naveed (ADEEL AKHTAR), did with Fatima (SHENAZ TREASURYWALA). Whenever he's at his parents' house, his mom has arranged for one young Pakistani woman after another to drop by so he can meet them.

But much like he hides the fact that he doesn't do his daily prayers as they believe, he also hasn't told them that he's met a young grad student, Emily (ZOE KAZAN), and despite both of them not wanting to end up in a relationship, they do just that. It's short-lived, however, as Emily soon learns of his parents' desires and plans for him and that she likely won't be in them. Accordingly, she breaks up with him, only to contract a mysterious infection not long after that which leaves the doctors with no choice but to put her in a medically induced coma to stabilize her.

Kumail goes to the hospital to see her and ends up meeting her parents, Beth (HOLLY HUNTER) and Terry (RAY ROMANO), who've flown in from North Carolina and want nothing to do with him, what with having been told everything by their daughter. From that point on, what begins as an uneasy joint vigil at the hospital ends up turning into something unexpected, all while he reconsiders a possible future with Emily.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Older teens might be drawn to the romantic comedy story, while fans of anyone in the cast might be interested as well.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For language including some sexual references.

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