I try to see every big release when it comes out, and I still skipped Crazy Rich Asians last year. I had no problem with the concept of the movie, and quite frankly, having a majority-Asian cast in a standard movie genre that usually don’t have majority-Asian casts is a good thing. I just don’t normally care for romantic comedies no matter how good they are, and I was going to the movies at the local Regal last year, and every single movie I saw for something like six months before Crazy Rich Asians actually premiered had the exact same promo ad before it, featuring movie’s stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Awkwafina showing the same clips from the movie and talking about some charity that Regal was working with. And none of those clips were anything I thought of as all that funny. The net result was I probably built up a strong anitpathy for the movie, a bit too tough for me to personally overcome by the time the movie came out.
The same thing almost happened with A Wrinkle in Time and I wish it had. That movie wasn’t very good.
But I am trying to fill in a lot of blanks, Crazy Rich Asians was very well received, and it was leaving HBO at the end of the month. So, here we are.
Constance Wu stars as Rachel Chu, a young economics professor specializing in game theory. She’s been seeing boyfriend Nick (Golding) for about a year, and she thinks he’s some average guy. But, Nick needs to go home to Singapore for a family wedding where he’s the best man. He opts to take Rachel home to meet the family he’s never really talked about. There’s a good reason for that: Nick’s family is incredibly wealthy and practically royalty in Singapore. Rachel didn’t know that, allowing the two to develop a normal relationship.
Besides, Rachel’s best friend Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina) lives there with her own super-wealthy family (though not as wealthy as the Youngs), and it would be nice for Rachel to see an old friend.
In many ways, this is a very standard rom-com. There’s an attractive young couple in love with each other, they meet some obstacles during a trying time at a pivotal point in their relationship, and the pair eventually overcome it through the power of love and understanding. There are some wacky friends for at least one half of the couple, and most likely a disapproving parent or other authority figure standing in the way who will ultimately be overcome due to the couple’s general sincerity rather than lose his or her loved one.
So, yeah, we got all that. But this one here works well regardless. The central conflict is twofold. Some of Nick’s younger relatives and jealous wannabe girlfriends play the class card, using vicious backtalk and pranks to call Rachel a golddigger. As for Nick’s domineering mother (a very formidable Michelle Yeoh), she takes issue more with the fact Rachel, even if she is the daughter of a Chinese immigrant, is really an American.
Yeoh is just one example of the movie’s great casting. Awkwafina steals her scenes, justifying her increased presence in films since. Golding and Wu have great chemistry, and the director actually offers him up as eye candy much more than her.
As for the rest of the movie, there’s an awful lot of opulence on display, showcasing the wealth being tossed around by both Nick’s family and Goh Piek’s family’s less tasteful version of said opulence. And the script offers a nice touch in that Yeoh’s character has her own mother-in-law issues suggesting a connection that is certain to materialize by the time the movie ends.
So, really, it’s a good example of the genre with a good cast that makes good use of the Asian cast and culture. Then again, it’s still not a genre I tend to enjoy all that much. But rom coms like this one go a long way towards making me want to see more of the good ones.
Grade: B+
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