Movie Reaction: Crazy Rich Asians

Formula: Monster-in-Law * The Joy Luck Club(*)

(*) I didn't want to use that movie, but Hollywood didn't give me a lot of options.

Progress is a funny thing. On the surface, there's nothing progressive about the story of a woman who meets her boyfriend's family and finds out they don't like her. In fact, it's sort of regressive if his mother's approval is integral to if they end up together. But, that's kind of the point of Crazy Rich Asians. Often, progress is just being treated like everyone else, not burning the whole system down.

So, yeah, Crazy Rich Asians is a pretty traditional RomCom. It's about Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an Economics professor at NYU. She's been dating Nick (Henry Golding) for a year. They are madly in love with each other. One day, he asks if she'd go with him to a wedding in Singapore, so she can finally meet his family. When they arrive in Singapore, Rachel discovers that Henry has been hiding the fact that he's the oldest son of one of the oldest, richest, most powerful families in Singapore. She quickly realizes that nothing about her background is impressive by Singapore standards. While she fell in love with Henry thinking he  was a handsome but otherwise regular guy, everyone there assumes she's a gold-digger with nothing to offer. Her biggest critic is Henry's mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh). Rachel spends most of the movie dodging land mines and deciding if she even wants any part in this life.

Crazy Rich Asians is a very busy movie. It has so much to cover. Since this is the first Hollywood movie with a predominantly Asian (or of Asian decent) cast since The Joy Luck Club in 1993, it has to function as a crash course in Asian history and culture. It explains the difference between old money (Nick's family) and new money (the family of Rachel's friend Peik Lin, played by the suddenly ubiquitous Awkwafina). It shows off the opulence of the Asian elite and the variety of characters among them. There's a side plot with Nick's cousin (Gemma Chan) and her came-from-nothing husband that's meant to mirror Nick and Rachel's situation. All this stuff is great. Cousin Oliver (Nico Santos) represents the lower tier members of Nick's family (in status, not likability). The movie never sits on any one thing for too long. It populates the world well. Peik Lin's family, including Ken Jeong, is a hoot. Silicon Valley's Jimmy O. Yang gets to really unwind. Plenty of the rich Asians are good, kind people too.

Honestly, my only problem with the movie is that it's so busy with the details and side stories, that I didn't really start liking Rachel until late in the movie. I love Constance Wu in Fresh Off the Boat. Hopefully this movie gets her the attention she's deserved for years (Seriously, where's her Emmy nomination?). I spent most of the movie rooting for Rachel simply because I already knew how great Wu was. However, she's more of a spectator for so much of the film. At one point in the film, when someone says she's a fighter, my first thought was "Is she, or did she just put on a nicer dress?". Perhaps I went in as too much of a Constance Wu fan, so nothing was ever going to be enough. Just a little more focus on her rather than what she's seeing would've been nice. It didn't feel like her movie until the last third or so.

As a fan of RomComs in general, I enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians a lot. It's not reinventing the genre in any of the story beats. The humor is the soft kind you'd get out of a 90s Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock movie. It's a lot of pretty people on the screen most of the time with a few comic performers to spice things up. By the end, I was as swept up in the story and the romance as in any good RomCom. I'd be happy if this ends up being a launching pad for a dozen different performers. The tourism board of Singapore certainly must be pleased with how it makes the country look*. Now, hopefully we won't have to wait another 25 years for a movie like this.

*I believe most of the movie is filmed in Malaysia because they were only able to film in Singapore for a few days. My original point stands though.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend