film-the-big-sick.jpg

It might already be too late for you, but I wonder what it would be like to go into The Big Sick knowing nothing about it. Not that it’s full of twisty-turny mysteries you don’t want spoiled—this is a gentle, dialogue-driven romantic comedy with weepy overtones—but among the movie’s charms are how naturally it unfolds and how radically it veers from its genre’s template.

Ned Lannamann is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. He writes about film, music, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, and other things.