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Michael Showalter (USA, 1970)
started out with
a television comedy series (1994) and
became famous when
Wet Hot American Summer (2001),
directed by David Wain and co-scripted by Showalter,
became a franchise (television series, books, tabletop game).
He directed the lame comedy The Baxter (2005), and then
created another television comedy series, You're Whole (2013).
He returned to cinema with another comedy, Hello My Name Is Doris (2015), followed by his best comedy:
The Big Sick (2017),
written by Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani based on their own love story.
Kumail is an amateurish stand-up comedian. One day he meets a girl who came to his show, Emily, and they have sex right away but tell each other that they don't want to date. Kumail shares an apartment with a fellow comedian but often dines with his parents and his siblings, who are conservative Muslims from Pakistan, and
disapprove of his career choice. Kumail pretends to pray as they demand when in fact he is just playing videogames.
His mother always tries to get him married to Pakistani girls, and Kumail keeps
their pictures in a box.
Emily is a free spirit. She and Kumail play games but eventually become boyfriend
and girlfriend. Kumail keeps it secret from his family who would certainly not approve. One day finally Kumail has to confess to Emily that there is no chance he will get serious about their relationship because it would mean abandoning his family. She dumps him and Kumail focuses on his stand-up shows.
However, one night a friend of Emily calls him telling him that
Emily has been hospitalized with a serious condition.
The moment he arrives at the hospital a doctor informs him that Emily needs an urgent procedure consisting in inducing a coma, and they need him to pretend to be her husband and sign the authorization, otherwise Emily might die.
Therefore Kumail signs, and then remains at the hospital.
As Emily enters the artificial coma,
Kumail calls Emily's parents, Terry and Beth, and they rush to the hospital.
They are annoying by Kumail's presence and asks him to leave.
However, slowly they both come to accept him, although for different reasons.
Terry is an insecure nerd who needs someone to talk to, and Beth is a tough
woman who defends him when a racist man insults him at a show.
Despite the coma, the doctors cannot heal Emily who seems to have a spreading infection.
Beth is determined to move her to a more distinguished hospital, but Kumail has heard from a nurse that this might kill Emily.
Kumail is increasingly involved with Emily's parents.
Kumail upsets his family by skipping a meeting with yet another potential Pakistani wife. He then accepts to meet another one but then tells her that he has no patience for arranged marriages. The parents show up at his place, furious.
He confesses that he is dating a White woman. His parents are terrified.
The double tension costs Kumail his chance as a stand-up comedian: he starts crying on stage. Kumail convinces Beth not to move Emily to another hospital and Emily finally gets out of the coma. She is weak but safe. However, she still resents Kumail and sends him away. Kumail decides to move to New York with two fellow aspiring comedians. His parents show up to reluctantly wish him good luck. Emily doesn't. One night Kumail is performing in a club when Emily shows up.
The Lovebirds (2020)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
Spoiler Alert (2022)
The Idea of You (2024)
Oh What Fun (2025)
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