Crazy Rich Asians Review

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.