Comment on ‘The Big Sick’ is a romantic girlfriend-in-a-coma movie

There’s something to be said for staying perfectly still and saying nothing and allowing the other person to discover their true feelings. Written by Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley”) and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, the movie is pretty much their real-life story, and that it’s based on truth probably accounts for much of what’s original and unexpected about it. The settings are tiny apartments, with roommates right outside the bedroom door, and a dive comedy club where Kumail (Nanjiani) works as a regular. The key thing is that “The Big Sick,” with ease and seeming effortlessness, makes us care a lot of about these people, together and separately. Kumail meets Emily (Zoe Kazan) in the comedy club. Afterward, since they really don’t know each other, they try to be cool and tell each other how much they’re not really interested in a relationship. Soon, they’re close enough that she tells her parents all about him, but he says nothing about her to his parents, because they’re religious Muslims from Pakistan. [...] they keep inviting single Muslim women to drop by the house every time Kumail comes for a visit. [...] as it turns out Nanjiani says that this is the film’s only major plot turn that’s entirely fictional. [...] though the breakup scene may be awkward and hard to believe, that one little plot turn serves up the rest of the movie.