Crazy Rich Asians Review

PG-13: Some suggestive content and languageWarner Bros. Pictures, Color Force, Ivanhoe Pictures2 Hrs and 1 MinuteDir: Jon M. Chu | Writers: Peter Chiarelli, Adele LimCast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, Michelle Yeoh, Nico Santos, Ronny Chieng, Victoria Loke, Remy Hii, Selena Tan, Janice Koh, Harry Shum Jr., Carmen Soo, Kris Aquino, Amy Cheng, Fiona Xie
The story follows Rachel Chu (Wu), an American-born Chinese economics professor, who travels to her boyfriend Nick's (Golding) hometown of Singapore for his best friend's wedding. Before long, his secret is out: Nick is from a family that is impossibly wealthy, he's perhaps the most eligible bachelor in Asia, and every single woman in his ultra-rarefied social class is incredibly jealous of Rachel and wants to bring her down. THE GOODDamn, it took Jon M. Chu going all the way back to his roots to finally make a decent film. And you know what? I’m so glad he did. He directed so many lame studio sequels (“Now You See Me 2”, “G.I. Joe Retaliation”) and offensive television adaptation abominations (“Jem and the Holograms”)
So this is an entirely new venture for him and he achieves every aspect that no one one knew he was capable of. Chu does have a stylish direction and his best proof of that was… “Step Up 3D”. But now you have “Crazy Rich Asians” which has some of the best visuals I’ve ever seen in a studio romantic comedy. It’s style is vibrant in ways you don’t usually see in film. In the first act, there is a creative sequence where girls snap a picture of Nick and Rachel; news travels through social media within seconds and they go all out to make it look immersive. As far as music is concerned, you have a consistent Chinese score in the background where they often play Chinese covers of popular songs. Then, with each location there are these 60s-style, Chinese-oriented fonts that are impressive. It gives the setting and the style an authentic, nuanced atmosphere.For a 30 million dollar movie, Chu does a great job showing these “Crazy Rich Asians” as crazy rich. A number of characters introduced live a life of luxury and as an audience member you envy it. You know what American rich is, but this is the kind of rich that seems far more extravagant.
I’ve watched many episodes of the ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat” and Constance Wu’s performance as Jessica always had me laughing my ass off because of how outspoken, persistent, and lowkey insane Jessica was. Now she’s fresh off the small screen and into the big screen in her first leading role, and Wu kills it. This is a display of the range Wu has where she’s not just a comedic actress from TV, but a jack-of-all-trades actress in general. Rachel is the total antithesis of that character, but she manages to be such a presence. She delivers an exquisite performance that proves she can, and will, spearhead leading roles in the future.Then, you have Henry Golding as Nick Young, an  Asian Prince of sorts. Golding has an abundant amount of charisma and charm in the same way that Hugh Grant did when he was starting off his career; it makes you want to see more of him. Unlike a lot of supposed romance duos, like Johnson and Dornan from “Fifty Shades of Grey”, Wu and Golding have great chemistry. Besides them looking cute on screen together, they are written on a humanist level that makes you emotionally attached to them. There’s a central conflict, which is the cultural importance of satisfying a family’s dynasty as opposed to having emotional passion, which is an issue they can’t even control, and they barely even argue. This is a couple THAT ACTUALLY TALKS TO EACH OTHER! When something is wrong they don't keep it to themselves or make up a lie to avoid it, they act like real mature adults and they talk to each other about it.
Then, you have Awkwafina who (holy shit!) has to be the Asian Tiffany Haddish in my opinion, and I love her. She has the best one liners and a hysterical personality, but like Haddish in “Girls Trip”, she steals nearly every scene she’s in with every opportunity that she gets. It makes me resent “Ocean’s 8” more than I already do for under-using her talents. There is one line she says that catches you so off guard it leaves you in pieces, and it also features the best use of the singular F-bomb that every PG-13 movie gets.On the surface, “Crazy Rich Asians” may seem like a cheesy remake of “Meet the Parents”, especially if you judge the trailer too harshly. But holy shit, that trailer does not do this movie justice. If you walk into this film expecting a studio movie you’re in for a surprise. Just like “Black Panther” I walked in expecting a standard genre movie, but the film is fueled with cultural significance and they use it as the primary theme for the narrative. It has the same social themes as “Black Panther” where it focuses on culture, discrimination, and breaking of standard tradition. Rachel is a Chinese-American with a great occupation, but the fact that she has American blood sends everyone into a spiral. You resonate with Rachel in the same vein as Killmonger in the sense that most of the characters are against her for her having that American blood, especially Nick’s Mom Eleanor who mostly thinks, “If you ain’t full-fledged Chinese, then fuck off.” Right at the beginning the film establishes two things:don’t fuck with Michelle Yeoh andthis is not going to be your standard romantic comedy.
She is cunning, conniving, and one look at her face says a whole lot about her character. She has one face for Rachel throughout the film and that is the face of disapproval. But, here’s the thing: you see where she’s coming from. Instead of having her be an active antagonist similar to De Niro in “Meet the Parents”, the writers develop her to be a sympathetic character and you understand her reason for disapproving of Rachel being part of the Young family.She treats her son the same way, but doesn't bash him too much because… well, that’s her son. All of the other characters, on the other hand, do treat him with contempt, especially his other family members. Once he’s reunited with his cousins, they treat him like an Americanized foreigner and say offensive things to him about Rachel that makes you sympathize with him as well. You connect with Rachel and Nick and root for their relationship because of how ruthlessly his entire family disapproves of them.
You have Nick’s family putting him under excessive pressure to be this man they want him to be, and Rachel whose background doesn’t meet the requirements to be part of the Young’s family. There is an amazing juxtaposition sequence where you see both ends of this couple’s spectrum as they realize the pressure they face in their roles, and the consequences of their status.  THE BADSo…. there is one awkward telegraphed moment that has a lazy sitcom vibe to it, despite there being a strong theme. It does follow a lot of the same tropes you see in an abundant amount of romantic comedies with a number of uncomfortable and cringe-worthy moments, but this film only has one and it features (of course) Ken Jeong, who thankfully is there for a very minimal amount of time.THE RENDYAs far as the “Meet the Parents” narratives go, “Shrek 2” is still the gold standard. You may think this sounds like a joke, but if you revisit it, you realize that “Shrek 2” is not only one of the best sequels of all time, but also a great romantic comedy.
“Crazy Rich Asians” follows a formula, but the writers took advantage of it and revitalized it to develop a powerful story and dimensional characters with insight as to where each of their perceptions come from. Even with some of the tropes it falls under, there are clever elements to them. There is only one scene that made me cringe with the telegraphed humor, but that's it. Despite falling under familiar territory from time to time, the entirety of the movie is really powerful, moving, and touching. “Meet the Parents” is like the bronze, but somehow in the final act, the movie shoots the girl and becomes my new personal favorite romantic comedy of all time.If the Academy is really following through with this Popular Film category, I hope this film gets that award, but also a Best Picture or Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. This needs to be a Best Picture nomination because this is one of the best movies of this year. It revolutionizes the romantic comedy genre and ups the ante for it. It takes Chinese tradition and uses it as the primary force of the narrative in the story. I know this story is the start of a trilogy, but because of the writing, the cast, and the well-developed characters, I want to see more of this. I want to see more of these characters. This is not just a film to appeal to a certain demographic, but a film that appeals to everyone. This is a new kind of romantic comedy and it's the best one I’ve seen in years.LAST STATEMENT“Crazy Rich Asians” takes familiar tropes and revitalizes them and it’s entire genre. It prospers from a great cast, amazing direction, and powerful writing with unfathomable complex and a dimensional theme that doesn’t just refresh romantic comedies, but also revolutionizes the genre.Rating: 5/5 | 97%Super Scene: Rachel and Nick’s seperate party pressure