"Crazy Rich Asians" - Review

About halfway through Crazy Rich Asians, it occurred to me – it has been an absurdly long time since there was a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy on the big screen. Going through Google, it seems like the last studio romantic comedy to make a big cultural dent was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and that was released ten years ago! So, now, here we are in 2018, and along comes a romantic comedy that’s also one of the most charming movies of the year.

Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) an economics professor at NYU is dating the perfect boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding). The relationship is going so well that when Nick invites Rachel to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding and meet his family, she jumps at the chance. What she doesn’t know is that Nick’s family is quite possibly one of the richest in Singapore, and she is woefully unprepared for how hypercritical and judgmental they can be. Nick’s mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), is overly protective of her son, and treats Rachel as icily as anyone possibly could. Further complicating matters is a cadre of followers of the family who have nothing but disdain for Rachel. Luckily, she has an old college friend, Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina), and Nick’s cousin Oliver (Nico Santos) to help her through it. But it won’t be easy, as Eleanor has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve to alienate Rachel.

In a genre than is more often than not dominated with clichés, one of the more surprising aspects of Crazy Rich Asians is that it never goes for the easy way out. In most romantic comedies centered around an outsider meeting a significant other’s family there are usual beats, either involving bodily functions or pratfalls. What sets Crazy Rich Asians apart is that the script by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim (based on the book by Kevin Kwan) never goes for the easy laugh. In fact, a lesser movie would treat Eleanor as an outright villain, whereas this film humanizes her and treats her like a real person with deep flaws, and a real heart. Every character here feels like a human being, and although they can be funny and silly at times, everything is grounded.

The performances are all lovely. But the two standouts are Constance Wu and Michelle Yeoh. Romantic comedy protagonists are tricky to play, and Wu has to perform a balancing act of being a real character and not a cypher. The fact that she can go toe-to-toe with Yeoh speaks highly of her work here. It’s always great to see Michelle Yeoh in movies, and she’s fantastic here, giving Eleanor an icy remove, but also playing up her humanity. Similarly to Ocean’s 8 earlier this summer, Awkwafina steals most of her scenes, and is hilarious as a party crasher and best friend.   

Director Jon M. Chu brings the same sense of energy to this as he did for the Step Up films, which gives the film a bouncy, poppy aesthetic. There’s an energy and drive to the film that’s absent from most romantic comedies.

The only real issue I had with the film is that there’s a subplot involving Nick’s sister, Astrid’s (Gemma Chan) marriage falling apart. Chan is great in the role, but the subplot seems like it was cut down significantly for time and feels a little superfluous.

On the whole, Crazy Rich Asians is a charming, delightful film that closes the summer on a romantic happy note.

Three out of four stars.