Kumail Nanjiani makes self-interest funny by letting the man defending it sound faintly wronged. We value that timing and prickliness, though his comic presence is no guarantee that the film around him will work.
Fi1m perspective
Nadeem in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) will sell anything, then seems personally offended to discover that this time it mattered. Kumail Nanjiani makes that indignation funny without asking us to approve of the man. We warmed to him because his sense of grievance is so much larger than his sense of responsibility. It is a good use of an actor whose quick delivery can make an excuse sound almost reasonable. Gil Kenan's film earns little confidence as a family story, but Nanjiani gives us somebody whose foolishness we can enjoy.
The awkward-nerd supporting parts of his early career gave way to Dinesh in Silicon Valley (2014–2019), his breakthrough. Writing has mattered too: his collaborators include Emily V. Gordon, and he co-wrote and starred in The Big Sick (2017). That semi-autobiographical lead gave his self-aware humour more room than a supporting part could. Kingo in Eternals (2021) and the dramatic lead as Steve Banerjee in Welcome to Chippendales (2022) show the subsequent effort to get beyond familiar comic territory.
Dolittle (2020), in which he voices Plimpton, is the less encouraging side of the career. Its animals talk so persistently that even modest comic pleasures become hard to enjoy. We would not make Nanjiani responsible for that failure, but neither can we recommend it as a useful place to hear his timing at work. An actor associated with fast-talking characters needs something around him other than more talk. Here we wanted fewer lines from the animals, not another comic voice.
We are more interested in what he can do with a flawed leading character than in seeing him supply another ensemble with a few jokes. The move into drama is worth following, provided it leaves room for the awkwardness that makes his comedy useful. Neither of these family films is a reason to choose an evening's viewing on his name alone.
Biography
Kumail Nanjiani is a Pakistani-American actor and stand-up comedian. Born on 2 May 1978 in Karachi, Pakistan, he moved to the United States at the age of 18. He graduated from Grinnell College with a double major in computer science and philosophy before beginning stand-up comedy in Chicago.
Nanjiani is known for playing Dinesh in the HBO series Silicon Valley (2014–2019). He co-wrote and starred in the film The Big Sick (2017) with his wife Emily V. Gordon; the screenplay received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His other film and television credits include Kingo in Eternals (2021) and Nadeem in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).
