The Big Sick (2017)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: The best way to describe 'The Big Sick,' is as a socially thematic romantic comedy, as this is an excellent genre-fair that equally has a lot more on its mind than most. Yes the narrative here is brilliantly centred around many cultural ideas as it deals with the common racism that underlies western society, and the difficulty - and crucially, the beauty - that arises when two very different cultures meet by using a beautiful central romance to bring two families' differences and similarities to the centre stage. This is one great thing to see as it's not only a significant and interesting story to tell, but it also unlocks the opportunity to truly test character relationships whilst building plenty of situational humour with them too. Seriously, the film is genuinely very investing and emotional as it gives time to developing the characters, and yet it's also extremely funny - whether it's tackling its themes with serious wit, or going off on other hilarious tangents ("you go on the internet, they hated Forrest Gump; that's like the best movie ever" is a perfect example of that). All in all then, this makes for a very successful rom-com as it ticks all the emotional boxes as well as the comedy ones, but 'The Big Sick,' is even better than that because it's about a whole lot more than a simple relationship.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Some of the social-justice jokes don't land all that well as they're often a little too on-the-nose, and having the more likeable half of the central relationship pushed aside for the majority of the film does have its disadvantages.
  VERDICT: An emotionally engaging and funny romantic comedy, 'The Big Sick,' works as brilliantly as you could have hoped. It's the social themes though that really make it a film to remember.

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