THE BIG SICK
An emotionally stirring love story, reserved for discerning adults.
Should You Watch It?
THE BIG SICK earns its three stars through emotional depth, strong performances, and an impressive balance of humor and sadness. Its portrait of love amid illness becomes a thoughtful story about family, forgiveness, reconciliation, and the struggles a long-term marriage can face.
But the movie’s content is serious. It contains at least 51 obscenities, including many “f” words, along with strong profanity mentioning Jesus. It also initially embraces casual sex and premarital relationships. Those choices clash with the film’s otherwise positive emphasis on marriage and family.
If you are an adult who can engage these issues with discernment, the movie offers real emotional and moral substance. If you are choosing for children or young teens, this is not the right family viewing.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESKumail, an agnostic Pakistani stand-up comedian, meets Emily, an American comedy writer, after she calls out from the audience during one of his performances. Their flirtation becomes a serious relationship, but Kumail hides it from his devout Muslim family, who expect him to follow their traditions.
When Emily suffers a life-threatening illness, Kumail rushes to her side. Their relationship must face cultural conflict, family pressure, illness, and questions of forgiveness.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means a solid, emotionally effective comedy with meaningful flaws. THE BIG SICK has moving emotional moments and impressive depth. Its realistic backstage portrait of struggling comics gives the comedy a lived-in quality, while director Michael Showalter strikes a strong balance between humor and sadness.
Kumail Nanjiani does outstanding work, showing a brave willingness to share his most emotional moments. Zoe Kazan brings refreshing charm to Emily, while Ray Romano and Holly Hunter add professional gravitas. The film is strongest when depicting family, marriage, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Its major drawback is the frequent foul language and casual treatment of sex and premarital relationships.
The Worldview
THE BIG SICK presents a strong Romantic worldview centered on love, while also affirming important moral values. It praises family, marriage, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and explores how difficult relationships can become. The story also shows an older man regretting adultery and seeking forgiveness from his wife.
The film makes clear that Kumail is agnostic while his family are happy members of Islam. It portrays the rigid mindset of Kumail’s family without relying on stereotypes or launching strong attacks on their faith. Still, the movie’s treatment of premarital sex and relationships is morally casual, creating tension with its later celebration of marriage and family.
At its heart, the film sees love and reconciliation as worth pursuing through suffering and conflict. Scripture likewise calls believers to forgive one another: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong Romantic, somewhat antinomian worldview about the slightly fictionalized real-life mixed romance and marriage between an agnostic stand-up comedian with a devout Muslim family from Pakistan and an American family therapist turned comedy writer, with some strong elements extolling family, forgiveness and reconciliation and some positive content about marriage; at least 51 obscenities (including many “f” words, two strong profanities mentioning Jesus and six light profanities; no violence, but woman with infected lung has to be placed in a medically induced coma; a few jokes about sexual situations (none very graphic), unmarried couple has one-night stand that cuts away after they kiss in bed, couple is later shown necking on a couch, and older man expresses regret for committing adultery in a one-night stand, but seeks and gains forgiveness from his wife; no nudity; brief alcohol use includes light wine drinking in one scene; no smoking or drugs; and, agnostic male protagonist withholds information from his devout Muslim family about dating a Non-Muslim American and breaks up with the woman but then realizes he made a mistake.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The film portrays forgiveness as important in marriage and family. What makes forgiveness difficult, and how does Christ’s forgiveness shape the way we forgive others?
Ephesians 4:32 · Colossians 3:13Kumail hides important information from his family because he fears rejection. When is secrecy harmful, and what does Scripture teach about walking in truth?
Ephesians 4:25 · Proverbs 12:22The story places romantic love alongside marriage, family, and reconciliation. What does Scripture say marriage is meant to be?
Genesis 2:24 · Ephesians 5:25The movie presents illness and suffering as tests for relationships. How can suffering reveal both weakness and faithfulness?
Romans 5:3–5 · James 1:2–4The Final Word
THE BIG SICK is a funny, moving, well-acted story about love, family, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Its frequent strong profanity and casual premarital-sex content make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For younger viewers, consider these.
