Crazy Rich Asians review

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.