Crazy Rich Asians

Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Harry Shun Jr., Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Jimmy O. Yang, Romy Chieng, Remy Hii, Nico Santos
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Romance
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A college professor (Constance Wu) travels with her boyfriend (Henry Golding) to Singapore for a wedding. She is shocked when she learns that his family is one of the richest in the country.

Review:

Tim: I am so happy about the massive success of Crazy Rich Asians. Asian actors are continuously overlooked, ignored, or relegated to minor, background characters. Diversity efforts have improved some over the last few years, but this is still an obviously under-served demographic. The good news is that the stunning box office success of this movie will hopefully open new doors for the Asian community and show Hollywood that diversity isn't just the right thing to do, but also a smart business practice. This film- featuring an entirely Asian cast- grossed $173 million domestically, on a $30 million budget. That's amazing in its own right, but this is also the 6th highest grossing romantic comedy of all time. This is the kind of movie that hopefully will change things for the better. I sincerely hope we get more of these movies in the future and more Asian actors are cast in meaningful roles. As happy as I am about this film's box office success, it helps that this is a really, really good movie. And I don't mean this is a good "Asian" movie. This is an effective, entertaining, fun film that is one of the better romantic comedies I've seen in recent years. Any way you look at it, this is a really strong film.

I haven't read the source novel, but I imagine from this that it's really good. The characters in this film seemed memorable, entertaining, and each was unique. I'm entirely positive that this comes across better in the book- there's certainly more room to explore these characters and to provide more insight into who they are. There's not quite enough time to do this in the movie. It's impressive the lengths to which we learn about these characters, but with such an extensive cast, you can't help but feel like some characters were shortchanged. I'm sure there is so much backstory we missed, which is a tad unfortunate. This hurts the movie a little, but I also understand. The film is two hours long and they really couldn't have spent much more time developing the characters. The length was about the maximum a film like this could sustain before the run time becomes an issue. So, while I wish we could have learned more about the characters, I get the limitations of the medium.

It was fun to be transported to Singapore and this world so unlike the one most Americans experience on a daily basis. I loved the role reversal and some of the biases we hear about America. It felt like a cathartic experience to see how the rest of the world probably feels about most American films. While this world of the extremely wealthy is a bit fictionalized, there was some truth in how the elite majority live. It was genuinely fun to see this world inhabited by the crazy rich. It was interesting that wealth solves a lot of problems, but not surprisingly, it creates many as well (mo money, mo problems and all). I found that fascinating- that the characters here didn't need to worry about money, but they had a plethora of issues regardless. Most of the characters faced some challenge, some drama throughout the course of the film. The story itself was fairly predictable from a romantic comedy standpoint, but the change in location and culture made the story feel fresh and unique. The usual tropes might still be there, but the package is so different that it all feels exciting and new.

I enjoyed Constance Wu and Henry Golding in the lead roles. I'm not sure I ever truly loved either of their performances, but both were quite effective and memorable in their roles. They gave good performances and they had obvious chemistry on screen. The quiet moment at the wedding between these two was perhaps my favorite moment of the film. They both played their roles well. Michelle Yeoh was excellent in a challenging role. She was believable and yet never made her character too one-dimensional. I enjoyed her performance immensely. Gemma Chan adds in a nice supporting performance. I'm excited to explore her character more in the sequel (which we will obviously do). I haven't been a fan of Awkwafina in previous roles, but she brought so much energy and humor to this film. Sure, her performance completely lacked subtlety and at times made me cringe, but she certainly brings levity to the movie as well. I'm not changing my mind about her yet, but I see her contribution here. I felt similarly about Ken Jeong. I love the guy from "Community" and his movies, but he felt a bit too over-the-top. He creates a few laughs, but I was surprised by how few. I have to give so much credit to Nico Santos, who stole so many scenes with his enjoyable performance. He was so good in this film.

This movie does occasionally fall into the expected romantic comedy predictability traps. This never causes extensive damage, but it does hurt the movie a little. This isn't enough to ruin the experience because this film feels like a fresh, unique spin on the genre. It gives us characters that we learn to care about, makes us laugh, and entertains us. Crazy Rich Asians is a strong, enjoyable movie and I'm excited to see the sequel.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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