The Big Sick
Lionsgate | Release Date: June 23, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
46
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
IGNEric GoldmanJul 5, 2017
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon have told their own story in a funny, highly engaging way that doesn’t feel precious or sanitized, but instead is relatable and engrossing from start to finish. And you’ll laugh a hell of a lot. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 5, 2017
This movie doesn't play any of its themes cheaply. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 29, 2017
It is funny and smart and wise and silly, it is romantic and sweet and just cynical enough, and it is without a doubt one of the best romantic comedies I have seen in a long time. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 29, 2017
It’s a movie that not only puts human imperfections and incongruities on display, but also revels in them. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 22, 2017
It’s hilariously hyperverbal, yet wonderfully heartfelt. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 22, 2017
I fell hard for both Ms. Kazan and Mr. Nanjiani and The Big Sick, which tells a great story with waves of deep feeling and questions of identity and makes the whole thing feel like a breeze. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 2, 2017
Director Showalter does a beautiful job of twining Nanjiani and Romano’s similar slump — you smile at what a perfect almost-father and son they already are — and he steers Hunter to a rapprochement of uncommon complexity and grace. And we thought we were watching a Judd Apatow film. Read full review
100
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerJan 24, 2017
It’s a perfect marriage of direction, performances, and writing, the kind of comedy that people eagerly wait for. Its solutions aren’t easy, and its paths unusual, but it’s a love story that completely earns its emotional peaks, and the kind of comedy that makes you wish every single one of them were this great. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 23, 2017
As a man flummoxed by circumstance and the rifts in his own marriage, Romano is deeply touching in the role. As for Hunter, this is her best work since “Broadcast News.” Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 29, 2017
It’s a terrific example of a movie that doesn’t work too hard to make you love it. It’s patient as it waits for you to come around to its considerable charms. Read full review
90
SalonMax CeaJun 27, 2017
Emily’s sickness is ultimately what elevates The Big Sick above the echelon of enjoyable-but-generic rom-coms. Read full review
90
VoxAlissa WilkinsonJun 22, 2017
The Big Sick feels authentic because it isn’t afraid of complexity. Read full review
90
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJan 21, 2017
One of the best things about The Big Sick is that the obstacles facing this relationship are real and relatable. It’s a funny movie, but it’s about really serious stuff. Read full review
90
VarietyGeoff BerkshireJan 21, 2017
Comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani and writer Emily V. Gordon mine their personal history for laughs, heartache, and hard-earned insight in The Big Sick, a film that’s by turns romantic, rueful, and hilarious. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJun 28, 2017
The Big Sick is as personal as it gets, but Gordon and Nanjiani pull no punches and steer well clear of preciousness. I laughed plenty at their film, cried my guts out, too, and went home elated. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 12, 2017
The Big Sick has the qualities that could make it a sleeper hit. It’s funny, touching, and perceptive. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJul 10, 2017
The movie works for the reason that all the best rom-coms do: you fall in love, a little bit, with Kumail and Emily, and want them to stay together. Love, this movie reminds us, is often inconvenient; but it does ultimately conquer all. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJul 6, 2017
The Big Sick has a lot of charm. Just don’t expect the revolution in romantic comedy that its aggressive hype would suggest. Read full review
88
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJul 6, 2017
The Big Sick is romantic and funny, but the movie is way too sprawling and ambitious to be contained by the words romantic comedy. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 29, 2017
Here’s a layered, nuanced film whose only goal is to tell a story of real people and real heartache, not to act as a crass marketing plank for a series of hopeful sequels and spinoffs (hi and bye, Baywatch and CHIPS). Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 29, 2017
The Big Sick has the confidence to let the audience come to Nanjiani and Gordon's fictionalized real-life situation, rather than yank us in, kicking and screaming. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 28, 2017
Trust me on this: Go. Read full review
88
ObserverOliver JonesJun 27, 2017
The real stars are his screenwriters. By borrowing from their real life, Gordon and Nanjiani have crafted the rare romance that sparkles with real life emotion. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 22, 2017
Apatow also has a knack for spotting up-and-coming talent and using his considerable influence to help foster it on the biggest stage and under the brightest lights. He’s done this with Lena Dunham (“Girls”) and Amy Schumer (“Trainwreck”), and he’s done it again with Nanjiani. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 20, 2017
Nanjiani and his wife/co-screenwriter Emily V. Gordon carved this romantic comedy out of her personal hospital experience and their own culture-clash relationship. Their hilarious and heartfelt script has a rare authenticity that pulls you in and keeps you glued to the screen. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 21, 2017
There was more than the usual dating-scene obstacles threatening their future together. Collaborating on the screenplay for The Big Sick, Nanjiani and Gordon have made a perceptive, winning romantic comedy from those obstacles, including the unforeseen emergency that provides the film its title. Read full review
83
The Film StageDan MeccaJan 22, 2017
Mostly funny and sometimes heart-wrenching, Showwalter, Nanjiani, and Gordon collaborate comfortably, finding laughs in the more dire moments. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJan 21, 2017
The Big Sick plays less like a great movie than a platform for its appealing tone, but it’s so well acted and dense with insights into the culture clash at its center that nothing about the central dynamic is strained. Read full review
83
The PlaylistNoel MurrayJan 21, 2017
There’s a certain flat indie artlessness to “The Big Sick,” but it’d be shortsighted to discount how well-written and well-acted it is. This is a very funny movie, yet always plausibly so—never throwing in jokes just for the sake of a laugh. Read full review
80
EmpireJimi FamurewaJul 24, 2017
Edgy and hilarious, Nanjiani and Gordon’s true story of cross-cultural love is a Trump-baiting marvel that’s worth the hype. Read full review
80
Total FilmKate StablesJul 24, 2017
Mixing a rom-coma into the romcom, this smart, sweet and highly personal love story finds a winning formula. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJun 29, 2017
This is a movie about life. Bigger than love. Bigger than hope. Bigger than anything. Just life, and all its attempts to wear you down – and how you’ll never let it. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 23, 2017
The Big Sick succeeds in doing so many things that romantic comedies — to the extent that they’re even made anymore — have failed to do for years. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 22, 2017
The Big Sick is both a delightful comedy and an imperfect milestone. With any luck, we’ll look back on it someday and it won’t feel like a milestone at all. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensJun 15, 2017
This movie keeps a lot of balls in the air: generational and cultural conflict, hospital drama, screwball banter — and only rarely lets one drop. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Tomris LafflyFeb 2, 2017
Infused with honesty and authenticity, Michael Showalter’s crowd-pleaser is an instantly winning heart-stealer and a superbly well-timed story of culture clash that resolves into a lovely tale of mutual understanding and acceptance. Read full review
80
Village VoiceBilge EbiriJan 24, 2017
For the vast majority of its running time, The Big Sick astutely pulls you between the twin poles of agony and glee. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 21, 2017
All of The Big Sick’s power has gone into its script and performances. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 21, 2017
A funny and tender drawn-from-life love story. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 27, 2017
Nanjiani is engaging throughout, though the scenes of his standup routine are a little confusing. He’s not funny, not even slightly. Is he supposed to be? That’s not clear. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJun 23, 2017
Mainly, though, this is Nanjiani’s show. Bits of his smart, cross-culturally incisive stand-up are sprinkled throughout, in performances alongside his fellow comics (one of whom is Aidy Bryant of “SNL”). Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePeter GoldbergJun 19, 2017
The film is always at least gut-rumbling and keeps its humor in situations that are morose and awkward. Read full review
72
Paste MagazineTim GriersonJun 22, 2017
The movie is funny/sad without ever necessarily being revelatory or incisive. For better or worse, it’s very much like its protagonists: deeply, reliably nice. In fact, what’s most radical about The Big Sick is its optimistic insistence that a little niceness can make all the difference. Read full review
70
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 25, 2017
While The Big Sick isn’t always a complete success — it’s another film bearing the name of Judd Apatow (he produced with Barry Mendel) that could stand to lose 15 or 20 minutes — it’s the kind of sweetly funny love story that’s so bizarre that it has to be real. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJun 19, 2017
Although The Big Sick breaks new ground as it delves into cultural conflicts, there are patches of the drama that give you pause. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 10, 2017
The Big Sick makes good use of some vintage Nanjiani 9/11 comebacks, some winning (if not new) backstage backbiting comedy club observations and marvelous, heartfelt work by three great actors who carry their leading man and his overlong, not-a-million-laughs “personal” story across the finish line. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 3, 2017
The film bears its real-world resonance as lightly as a button, thanks both to the steady supply of well-turned one-liners and the rippling chemistry between Nanjiani and a never-better Kazan, who’s so disarmingly funny here that I kept catching myself pulling puppy-dog faces whenever she was on screen. Read full review
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