I really like Kumail Nanjiani so I'm happy to see his success. I'm even happier to see a funny, entertaining, and completely mainstream movie about a Muslim family. Their struggle to embrace their adopted country while maintaining a connection to their culture is presented with the same normalcy as the Greek family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding or as pretty much any movie dealing with Italian-American families.
(Note to the Merica crowd. It is not un-American to maintain the culture of your birth country. When my friend was naturalized, the judge encouraged all of the new citizens to maintain their culture.)
Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan are so charming that they make the dialog, which is writerly, believable. The arbitrary rules they place on their developing relationship offer humorous RomCom barriers but mask the underlying, more serious cultural barriers that separate them: religion, arranged marriages, and the actual choice between having a relationship or a family.
I have a major problem with this movie though. This is the somewhat true story of Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon's courtship, but in their story, they had not broken up when she became ill. I do like the idea that cultural barriers led to a midpoint breakup and I like the idea that Nanjiani processes and overcomes his personal issues while she is in a medically induced coma. This sets up a perfect climax (his conflict is resolved but she wakes up still angry) and dénouement (he proves his love so her anger subsided.) But this is all weakened by the fact that they hadn't simply had an argument; they had fully broken up and moved on. Had the movie not presented a time-goes-on montage, complete with a one-night stand, and let the illness arrive at a point in which their break-up might have only been temporary, then what follows might have been more powerful and believable.
The most interesting relationships are between Nanjiani and the two sets of parents. With his parents, we get the damaged relationship that will be healed. With her parents, we get an almost perfect RomCom relationship in which they start out disliking each other and, through actions and interactions, grow to love one another."
(Note to the Merica crowd. It is not un-American to maintain the culture of your birth country. When my friend was naturalized, the judge encouraged all of the new citizens to maintain their culture.)
Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan are so charming that they make the dialog, which is writerly, believable. The arbitrary rules they place on their developing relationship offer humorous RomCom barriers but mask the underlying, more serious cultural barriers that separate them: religion, arranged marriages, and the actual choice between having a relationship or a family.
I have a major problem with this movie though. This is the somewhat true story of Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon's courtship, but in their story, they had not broken up when she became ill. I do like the idea that cultural barriers led to a midpoint breakup and I like the idea that Nanjiani processes and overcomes his personal issues while she is in a medically induced coma. This sets up a perfect climax (his conflict is resolved but she wakes up still angry) and dénouement (he proves his love so her anger subsided.) But this is all weakened by the fact that they hadn't simply had an argument; they had fully broken up and moved on. Had the movie not presented a time-goes-on montage, complete with a one-night stand, and let the illness arrive at a point in which their break-up might have only been temporary, then what follows might have been more powerful and believable.
The most interesting relationships are between Nanjiani and the two sets of parents. With his parents, we get the damaged relationship that will be healed. With her parents, we get an almost perfect RomCom relationship in which they start out disliking each other and, through actions and interactions, grow to love one another."