CRAZY RICH ASIANS:
A SWEET BUT ALSO VERY FUNNY
ROM-COM WITH PRODUCTION DESIGN JUST AS DAZZLING AS ITS STAR-STUDDED CAST!
By Nico
Beland
Movie
Review: *** ½ out of 4
WARNER
BROS. PICTURES
Constance
Wu and Henry Golding in Crazy Rich Asians
What do you get when you take Fifty Shades of Grey, replace most of
the characters with Asians, and make it intentionally funny and a “Good” romance?
Crazy Rich Asians, based on the book
by Kevin Kwan and directed by John M. Chu (Step
Up, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Now You See Me 2).
After Chu previously destroyed the
reputation of a beloved 80s cartoon and made a horrible depiction of
millennials with 2015’s disaster, Jem and
the Holograms, I lost some respect for him as a filmmaker. I thought Now You See Me 2 was a decent movie but
it wasn’t anything great and I recall saying in my review of the film that he
would need to make an incredible movie with “Thought” and “Effort” for me to
forgive him for Jem.
Well, this is that movie, I had low
expectations at first, but not because Chu was directing or anything like that.
But to me the trailers and ads made it look like your average romantic comedy that’s
all glamor with little substance.
I was wrong, this is a really funny
and heartwarming movie with a talented cast, gorgeous scenery, and a smart,
witty script that even manages to throw in some dark humor once in a while but
never feels forced or out of place. That’s twice this year a romantic comedy surpassed
my expectations and ended up being one of the best films I’ve seen all year,
first Love, Simon and now this.
The film follows native New Yorker, Rachel
Chu (Constance Wu-EastSiders, Children’s Hospital, Fresh Off the Boat) as she accompanies
her longtime boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding-The 8TV Quickie, The Travel
Show, A Simple Favor) on a trip
to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding. Little does she know that Nick is
actually a member of one of the wealthiest families in the country and he has
neglected to mention it.
Being with Nick unknowingly puts a
target on Rachel by jealous socialites and worse, his own disapproving mother,
Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh-Tomorrow Never
Dies, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,
Reign of Assassins) taking aim at
this mysterious outsider. Rachel must do everything she can to prove to this
family that she is worthy of Nick’s love because while money can’t buy love, it
can definitely complicate it.
The film also stars Gemma Chan (Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Humans, Captain Marvel) as Astrid Leong-Teo, Lisa Lu (The Arch, The Postmodern Life
of My Aunt, 2012) as Shang Su Yi,
rapper, Awkwafina (Girl Code, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Ocean’s 8) as Goh Peik Lin, Harry Shum
Jr. (Step Up 2 and 3, Glee, Shadowhunters) as Charlie Wu, Ken Jeong (Community, The Hangover
trilogy, Transformers: Dark of the Moon)
as Goh Wye Mun, Sonoya Mizuno (Ex-Machina,
La La Land, Annihilation) as Araminta Lee, Chris Pang (Tomorrow, When the War Began, Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, Marco
Polo) as Colin Khoo, Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon
Valley, Life of the Party, The Happytime Murders) as Bernard Tai, Ronny
Chieng (Legally Brown, The Daily Show, Ronny Chieng: International Student) as Eddie Chang, Remy Hii (Better Man, Neighbours, Marco Polo)
as Alistair Chang, Nico Santos (Go-Go Boy
Interrupted, 2 Broke Girls, Superstore) as Oliver T’sien, Jing Lusi
(Holby City, 4000 Miles, Stan Lee’s Lucky
Man) as Amanda “Mandy” Ling, Carmen Soo (Gorgeous, Dead Mine, Ghost Child) as Francesca, Pierre Png (Forever Fever, Chicken Rice War, The Eye
(2002)) as Michael Teo, Fiona Xie (One
Leg Kicking, Rule No. 1, Maggi & Me) as Kitty Pong, Janice
Koh (Fighting Spiders, The Pupil, Mister John) as Felicity Young-Leong, Tan Kheng Hua (Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, Cages, Marco Polo) as Kerry Chu, Selena Tan (Rogue Trader, Under One Roof,
Just Follow Law) as Alexandra “Alex”
Young-Cheng, and Kris Aquino (Mano Po,
My Little Bossings, Etiquette for Mistresses) Princess
Intan.
Overall, Crazy Rich Asians delivers exactly what I look for in a “Feel Good”
movie, a smart, funny, and touching romance that never goes stale with an
engaging cast keeping me invested and beautiful production design that’s almost
otherworldly. It’s also worth noting that the film is the Asian equivalent of Black Panther as it marks the first
movie set in a modern setting to be released by a major Hollywood studio that
features a mostly Asian cast since The
Joy Luck Club in 1993.
The acting is superb and believable in
every moment, nobody forces their performances or puts little effort in them.
Everyone feels authentic in their roles and despite some characters being
pushed to the side and forgotten about, they all have distinct personalities
and make an impression.
The role who stands out the most to
me is Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor, she manages to blur the line between a loving
mother to cold bitterness. Yeoh sells every moment whenever she’s on-screen and
it’s some of her best acting since Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
I wouldn’t say Crazy Rich Asians is a perfect movie, don’t get me wrong, I loved it,
but I have a few gripes regarding the script. As mentioned before, some of the
side characters are pushed to the side and forgotten about, I’m not sure if the
book has the same problem but when certain characters reappeared I had to
remind myself that they were in the movie.
The other nitpick the misunderstanding
cliché at the end of the second act, granted I’ve seen other films that had
worse uses of this cliché, but it does go on a little long and you can already
guess how it will end. With that said it doesn’t ruin the movie in any way and
it leads to one of the funniest marriage proposals since Ryan Reynolds with his
Ring Pop and bare bum from Deadpool.
After Fifty Shades Freed, Book Club,
and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again
plagued the date movie market, Crazy Rich
Asians is a breath of fresh air and definitely worth taking that special
someone to. It treats its audience intelligently and men shouldn’t worry about
not enjoying the movie, chances are you’ll have just as much fun as the ladies.
