Romantic comedy “The Big Sick” has been the surprise indie darling of the summer, having endured and survived the rotating blockbuster line-up since its limited release. This is a semi-fictionalized story of how Pakistani-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani met and fell in love with his wife Emily Gordon. It’s an off-kilter, but effective love story that finds unusual ways to plant its emotion anchor, taking big risks that, for the most part, pay off in the end.

Nanjiani, who wrote the film with his wife Gordon, plays a version of his younger, less successful self: a neurotic single immigrant, trying to find success in the competitive world of Chicago comedy. In his personal and professional life, he has moved away from his traditional Pakistani Muslim upbringing, but he struggles to live his truth when he visits his parents, who still set him up with single Pakistani women in the hopes of successfully arranging a marriage. After playfully confronting a young woman named Emily (Zoe Kazan) who heckled his stand-up set, their one-night stand becomes an enduring relationship that is then strained by Kumail’s double-life with his parents. His loyalties are put to the test when Emily is stricken with an aggressive, mysterious infection. He’s then obligated to keep her out-of-town parents (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) calm and assured while their daughter rests in a medically induced coma, undergoing several diagnostic procedures.

This is produced by Judd Apatow’s Apatow Films and directed by actor/comedian Michael Showalter. Apatow productions tend to cater to actor-driven comedies that are structured loose enough that the cast can feel comfortable improvising or re-writing scenes on the set. These comedies never have a problem feeling genuine or immediate, but scenes often run too long, dialogue and jokes can contradict the tone of the film, and the movies end up a little lopsided by the time they reach final cut. In this regard, “The Big Sick” is a lesser offender, but there are still moments when the movie feels messy and undisciplined, shifting back and forth between the protagonist’s family, his career and the central story about him and the parents of his ailing girlfriend. These competing threads are finally braided in a graceful third act that artfully combines Kumail’s personal arc with the cathartic conclusion of this romantic dramedy plot.

The movie takes a big risk in having one of its two romantic leads drop out of the picture for nearly half of the runtime. The story then shifts to how Nanjiani is empowered to become his own person through the relationship he builds with his future in-laws. The story’s tension lies in whether his sleeping ex will take him back once she realizes how devoted he’s been while she was sick and unconscious. It’s a weird structure for a boy-meets-girl narrative, and I’ll admit it took a while for me to get into the movie’s unconventional groove, but once I did I could only admire it’s boldness to try something different.

Considering the subject matter, “The Big Sick” is plenty funny, but it never tries to jam in jokes to remind the audience that they’re watching a comedy. It takes it’s time to build character relationships and it does its best to stay away from sit-com set-ups or unearned melodrama within its high-concept. The script is less rigorous than I might prefer, but there’s good reason that this tender-hearted indie has stuck around all summer.

Grade: B

Cassidy Robinson is a former Idaho State University student with a master’s degree in film studies from Orange County’s Chapman University. He is currently working as a media journalist in Los Angeles, California.