With the summer ending for this year of films, we have the
anticipated film adaptation, based on the popular book trilogy from Kevin Kwan
called “Crazy Rich Asians”. It has been
too long since an Asian driven film was made and released through the studio system
based on another book, the engaging and sensitive family drama The Joy Luck Club and now we have this
film coming out in theaters instead of streaming services where the romantic
comedy/drama have found great success these days. Directed by Jon M. Chu, not only does it star
the latest Asian actors and newcomers from both America and Britain, we also
have a focus on all aspects of Asian culture inherent to the story and the
characters inhabiting this film. Does it
transcend those barriers and inherent cultural identities to tell a truly
relatable and charming romantic tale of family and relationships for a modern
time or does it fall into the trappings that have made this genre of films
stagnant for years? Let’s take a trip to
the lands of Singapore, China and look at the talk of the town with the story.
The story introduces us to the Young family with Eleanor Young (Michelle Yeoh) buying a hotel in London, England as she is married to a royal prince of British descent with Nick Young and Astrid Leong-Teo as young children seeing how their world views would be defined by their mother’s use of her prestige and power of their name and wealth. This leads us to the main focus of this romantic tale on Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an Asian American NYU economic professor who teaches game theory but she has also been in a long term relationship with the grown up Nick Young (Henry Golding). Nick’s best friend Colin Khoo (Chris Pang) is getting married and has invited him to be his best man at the wedding, with Nick inviting Rachel to come along to meet his family as well as his mother specifically. This bit of news explodes on social media and reaches his family, piquing everyone’s curiosity and interest in the Asian American outsider that is dating the most popular bachelor of Asia and heir to the Young’s estate as well as their wealthy business ventures. Rachel enthusiastically goes with Nick to Asia for the Wedding and she learns in a first class, expensive cabin on an Airplane to Singapore just how powerful and rich Nick truly is over in Asia.
They start their trip with the enjoyment of the pleasant food culture of Singapore with the engaged couple as well as Rachel reconnecting with her best friend and former college roommate Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina), who actually gives her the rundown on how powerful the families are and not just on a wealthy level, but in regard to respect and influence of their family around the world, akin to the inherent nature of royalty. However, Rachel meets with Nick’s mother, Eleanor and she is very cold and distant to anyone that has not been groomed within a native family with prestige and respect, with a clear disdain for Asians growing up in America with that country’s values. On top of having to win the affections of Nick’s mother, Rachel learns about and connects with Nick’s extended family from Astrid Leong-Teo (Gemma Chan) to Oliver T'sien (Nico Santos), Shang Su Yi (Lisa Lu), Eddie Cheng (Ronny Chieng), Fiona Tung-Cheng (Victoria Loke), Alistair Cheng (Remy Hii), Alexandra 'Alix' Young (Selena Tan), and Felicity Young (Janice Koh), as she discovers just how eccentric, manipulative, and truly fantastical the world she has found herself in over in Asia.
This is a classic fairytale romantic comedy for a modern time but giving enough dramatic heft and conflicts to give the stagnant, formulaic genre some new perspectives as well as a great ode to the romantic comedy classics of yesteryears from the old days of Hollywood. It pretty much follows the traditional beats of the genre well but does so with passion and the help of a stellar cast of actors/actresses with a wonderful chemistry to make their characters truly shine in the film. It also has universal, relatable themes of family, marriage, love, relationships, and the clashing of values and cultures of natives with immigrants especially in Asian society. The main romance between Nick and Rachel is truly charming and endearing to see them together, thanks to the capable script from Adele Lim with Peter Chiarelli and the committed, affectionate chemistry between Wu and Golding. They are the beating heart of the story and their conflicts with each other as well as with Eleanor and her stern, family values are what gives the dramatic elements of the film weight and resonant strongly especially with those that always seem to have to choose between those we love and family we trust wholeheartedly.
Let’s get to the comedic elements of the story as it harkens back to the traditional style of comedy that was more reliant on satirizing gender roles and societal culture with wit and style. That’s what you get with the writing for this film and it shows how much fun it must have been to provide some great natural humor with the family members of the Youngs interacting with the other families that are lower in statuses and power. Rachel is also given a few humorous beats with her friend Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina) providing some great cultural opposite comedy with her lifestyle and family always berating her failing in America unlike Rachel. You would think they would have some low brow humor that would be crass thrown in but that is kept to a minimum thankfully with a reliance on character interactions and cultural satire to provide most of the quaint, humor with only the beginning montage being modern with its humor but it provides the laughs in the right places and becomes dramatic when the story calls for it. It was important to distinguish these story elements as it is a balancing act between the two tones and styles, with the director/stars/and writers handling with finesse and respect towards the source material it is adapting here.
As the story is truly about Nick and Rachel’s romance and
the personal family drama of winning acceptance with Nick’s mother to be
considered apart of their family, we also follow the other family members in
Nick’s extended family line with the focus on his favorite cousin Astrid Leong-Teo. Her story is one surrounding a marriage where
she and her husband Michael Teo (Pierre Png) want to be happy but strangely,
not with each other. It is with this
storyline that it does go into soap opera territories that is compelling and
does provide some decent heartbreaking romance drama, but it really doesn’t
affect the main plot in a meaningful way.
Most of the family is essentially played mainly for humor and comedic
relief. While it helps to see how the
other family members are for comedic scenes and effect, the dramatic subplot
with Astrid isn’t given the time to be impactful or feel important to the main
storylines.
Let’s get into the cast themselves, starting with the leads
playing Rachel, Nick, and Nick’s mother Eleanor. Constance Wu is truly phenomenal as the
female lead for this story, portraying the innocent yet curious character she
is for most of the film and truly handles both the humor and the eventual
dramatic beats to truly be a well-defined and positive view of Asian American
women as an actor and character. While
Wu truly carries the entire film, you can not down play how charming and
amazingly charismatic Henry Golding is as Nick and while he does tend to be on
the sideline for the majority of the second act, he truly clicks with the cast
and Rachel to provide some natural humorous moments as well as making the
romance believable. In a role that is
completely different from the other characters she plays especially as a former
action star, Michelle Yeoh provides some classic stern motherly qualities with
delight and truly imposing especially as the one person who questions Rachel’s
intentions and her love for her son.
Those were the lead actors that are a part of the main storylines and
played wonderfully by them.
We now get to the supporting cast and the ones that truly
standout from the ensemble in either a comedic or dramatic role in the story. One of the memorable comedic relief
characters is Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina) and she is truly very comfortable in the
role as well as providing some good-natured humor with the lead characters as
well as the dynamite chemistry with Constance Wu. Astrid played by Gemma Chan (From the TV show
Humans) is wonderful as the
disenchanted wife and provides perspective on marriage through her character
that is refreshing to see in a romance film, despite the issues with the
subplot in general. Everyone in the cast
is great in their respective roles and scenes be it for comedic or dramatic
purposes but a special mention towards a veteran actress Lisa Lu as Shang Su
Yi, providing actual credibility to the culture represented here as well as a
surprising respect for Asian talents from the past. Those were the cast of the film and they were
all marvelous together, as they elevate and make the script come to life on the
big screen confidently.
It is now time to focus on the technical aspects of the
film, starting with the use of cinematography and editing especially for this
type of film set internationally as well as utilizing comedy throughout the
film. The DP for the film was Vanja
Cernjul and his team showcases the beauty of Singapore along with the
street/night life with the crew on hand.
They really make each locale from the opulent houses and resorts to the
inner streets of Singapore pop out vividly as it is always very bright and
colorful for most of the film but only goes muted in colors or cool within its
color tones when the drama takes center stage.
As for the editing of the film by Myron Kerstein, it moves briskly with
a lot of humorous and lively energy in the first half with the second half
slowing down to allow for the character dramatic beats take over when the
storylines come to their climatic movements.
The film is shot beautifully with its use of colors and lighting as well
as the editing matching the fast and kinetic pacing at play here for its humor
and world but slowing down enough for the drama to develop the
characters/storylines.
Now we get to the aspect of the film that truly comes to
life and that is with its art design/direction starting with the set design
itself. The production design was done
by Nelson Coates along with art
direction by Leslie Ewe, David Ingram, and Gary Mackay as well as set
decoration by Andrew Baseman. They
deserve mentioning as the setting and world the characters inhabit are nothing
short of stunning as they take many inspirations from the Queen of Versailles and
so on to represent the wealthy dynasty of the Asian families with an Asian
stylistic look to it. Each locale in the
story harkens back to the larger than life, spacious places of the old Romantic
comedy films that utilized those art designs to showcase the powerful status of
the character’s world as is the case with the Young family. It is simply gorgeous and truly brimming with
creative ingenuity and love for that era of filmmaking set design found in the
romantic classics of old, enhanced by the stylings of Asian architecture and
culture permeated into the look of the setting.
There is one more aspect of the art direction that must be
mentioned and it is the visually eye catching costume work done for this
film. The designer of the many costumes
for this film was done by Mary E. Vogt, who has designed so much iconic costumed
looks from many genre films such as Dune
and Batman Returns to name a few of her
credits. It seems to be a fusion of
Asian and European designs to match the character traits and personalities as
well as the inclusive but close knitted nature of these Asian royal families’ world. Every character is very much distinctive and
truly bursting with character in their costumes that truly defines them in
their exquisite dresses/casual wear of the women and tailored/flashy looks for
the men. The costuming work for this
film is truly top notch and worthy of accolades and recognition for every costume
that were designed and wore in this film.
Finally, it is time to look at the use of sound design and
the soundtrack/score for this film as it was shot on location around Singapore
as well as the expected use of popular songs throughout the film. Well, the sound design is handled well enough
especially for a studio production as the natural sounds of Singapore are heard
along with the actors coming through clearly and the effects are appropriately
applied for comedic or dramatic moments.
The score was done by Brian Tyler and his score uses an interesting mix
of Jazz and traditional orchestra for the parties and the dramatic scenes
effectively. There is a notable use of
pop songs and such for certain montages and it fits those scenes just fine but
really the score provides some great variety to the soundscape of the film. At
any rate, the sound design is fine along with a great companion score as well as
some proper use of pop songs for certain scenes and montages.
There was some skepticism regarding the overall quality of
this film before seeing it as it ran the danger of being bland or generic romantic
comedy with an Asian cast/crew attached to it especially with the unproven talents
of the writers and the unremarkable film work from Jon M. Chu. However, as soon as the credits rolled, this
was proven misplaced as everyone on this production brought their A-game to their
respective roles in front and behind the camera to create a very charming,
endearing modern day romantic comedy that is relatable in its humor, drama, and
characters but with the added bonus of exploring and representing the cultural
values and belief of family and respect for lineage/heritage through the lens
of Asia. It also helps to have a
wonderful ode to Romantic cinema of old in its lovely, distinctive characters,
witty and dynamic script, steady direction, and extraordinary looking film from
the costumes to the world the cast inhabits.
This is a surprising quality modern film entry for the romantic comedy genre
and a well-made one at that.
Score: ***** out of *****
Crazy Rich Asians
is a loving update of the classic romantic comedy formula for a modern-day
audience and it works on numerous levels that allow for a quality, entertaining
comedy/drama of family and romance as well as providing a different look at Asian
culture and characters that is rarely explored in storytelling and media. It deftly handles the use of comedy and drama
well especially as the film starts out in a fun, energetic vibe but transitions
to the grounded and all too relatable family drama that feels earned and resonates
powerfully on an emotional level. The
cast is truly fantastic as an ensemble but elevated by the inspired and wonderful
casting of the lead characters from Constance Wu to Henry Golding and Michelle
Yeoh at the core of the main story. The supporting cast are likable and provide
some truly great humorous moments along with the use of witty and dry humor throughout
the film akin to romance cinema of old.
It is also a gorgeous looking film from the cinematography to the art direction
of the whole film’s setting and costume design.
If you wanted a modern day romantic comedy to rival the classics for a
new generation, this film is more than up to the task to do so.
