the apparently autobiographical story of actor-comedian Kumail Nanjiani's courtship of his american girlfriend (now bride) Emily Gordon is often as funny as one would expect it to be given the source. whether on Silicon Valley or doing standup, Kumail is generally hilarious and he doesn't disappoint on that front in this movie either.
the couple's story of how they became attached, despite Emily's serious medical emergency and respective cultural barriers, has some potentially interesting things to say about love, family, religion, and each partner's devotion to those aspects of a relationship.
strictly as a rom-com genre entry, however, it didn't work as well for me for a few reasons. one, it's hard to tell a love story when one half of the romantic equation is in a coma for the whole of Act Two, which forces the drama to come from family conflicts that weren't as interesting to me as the relationship. second, the theoretical dilemma of Kumail being forced to choose between the traditional Pakistani arranged marriage and white, american Emily is never seriously placed in doubt. we see that he doesn't buy into the tradition from the beginning and there is no "Bellamy" interest to credibly compete for his affection with the (comatose) Emily.
the couple's story of how they became attached, despite Emily's serious medical emergency and respective cultural barriers, has some potentially interesting things to say about love, family, religion, and each partner's devotion to those aspects of a relationship.
strictly as a rom-com genre entry, however, it didn't work as well for me for a few reasons. one, it's hard to tell a love story when one half of the romantic equation is in a coma for the whole of Act Two, which forces the drama to come from family conflicts that weren't as interesting to me as the relationship. second, the theoretical dilemma of Kumail being forced to choose between the traditional Pakistani arranged marriage and white, american Emily is never seriously placed in doubt. we see that he doesn't buy into the tradition from the beginning and there is no "Bellamy" interest to credibly compete for his affection with the (comatose) Emily.
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