The Big Sick

The Judd Apatow school of comedy has led to mixed results - in it's initial incarnation, with films like "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up", it was a welcome mix of comedy and reality after a long run of comedies that had pushed too far into the silly and irrational, with no real humanity in them. Unfortunately much that followed has started to wander towards self-indulgent - the drama begins to look more like navel-gazing than anything with actual human stakes, and the improv-comedy often wanders around unable to settle on a punchline. 

Such is not the case with "The Big Sick". It may help that Kumail Nanjiani is a somewhat different voice (being a Pakistani immigrant to the US), and the story written by him and his parter, Emily V. Gordon, is based on events that they've actually lived through. So we're not looking at movie-star types attempting to pretend that they're just like us, we're looking at what feels more like relatable people in a situation with real stakes. There's a gentle romantic chemistry between Nanjiani and his on-screen partner, Zoe Kazan, that lets us travel happily with them and get engaged as the plot kicks in. There's also a strong supporting cast - Holly Hunter gets to demonstrate both how funny and how dramatic she can be in what feels like the first time in a while, while Ray Romano proves he's more than just the nebbishy type he's been in multiple Everybody Loves Raymond and Ice Age installments. 

In short, this is what good humanistic comedy-drama looks like. It hits both in laughs and in feels.