Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The Age of Commercialism

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I truly wanted to like Crazy Rich Asians. I heard almost all good things leading up to it's release, which might have raised my expectations too much, but nonetheless I felt it was a bit of a let down. First, I'll talk about what I liked. The general camera work and cinematography did an excellent job at highlighting the vibrant lifestyles of the characters and showing off the Chinese culture in an incredibly stunning way. The shots of both the Singapore skyline as well as the more intimate shots of the city marketplace made me want to visit very badly. Another plus for this movie is the actress Awkwafina who plays a supporting role. She was without a doubt the funniest part of the whole movie and stole every scene she was in. However, scene stealing wouldn't be particularly hard in this movie as most scenes play out with little to no successful comedy. The lead actress, Constance Wu gives a completely flat performance that conveys neither humor nor accessibility. As the main character, it is a massive issue that she is portrayed as unrelatable and lifeless. None of the other actors do a bad job, but rather aren't given a whole lot to do in terms of acting or comedy (with the exception of Awkwafina). I also had some narrative issues with the story. Worst of all, I felt the main character Rachel had almost no agency in this movie. She goes from scene to scene with stuff happening to her along the way, to which she never responds until the final moments of the film. Like a lot of this movie, she felt very one dimensional and hollow. Another issue I had was the over stuffing of plot threads. I don't want to get into spoilers so I'll leave it vague, but I thought many of the story lines were either poorly set up or didn't tie into the climax in any way. The general story line is fine, a very by the numbers rom-com story, that didn't break any new ground, despite having characters and a setting that are often underrepresented on screen. I think all this surface level story with random side plots could have worked fine if the comedy worked better, but I felt most of the jokes fell flat, my theater got a few chuckles but certainly not what you'd expect. Also, interestingly, there were one or two scenes that made people laugh, however I believe this was unintentional. The scenes seemed to be meant to be taken seriously but were just somewhat ridiculous. I suspect the reason that this movie was unsuccessful to me in having compelling characters or fresh comedy was due to the type of lifestyle the characters lived. Although visually appealing, very few people can relate to the asian billionaires who are described as Chinese royalty. When I think of successful movies that show off another culture in a respectful and honest way, what comes to mind is The Big Sick. It was able to draw you in with characters that are of another culture but still operate on a more simple, grounded lifestyle like most people, making their story more compelling due to the accessibility of it. I'm sad that Crazy Rich Asians wasn't able to work on that level because I think it's an important movie for getting minority representation in four quadrant hollywood movies. Based on what I've seen of other reviews, I might be in the minority on this one, but I can't confidently say you'll like it.

I saw "Crazy Rich Asians", starring Constance Wu-Fresh Off the Boat_tv, Eastsiders_tv; Henry Golding-This is his first movie but he was on the Bachelorette_tv this year; Michelle Yeoh-Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Mummy:Tomb of the Emperor and Awkwafina-Ocean's Eight, Neighbors 2:Sorority Rising. This is a better than average rom-com that is based on a book-of the same name-by Kevin Kwan. It is also part of a trilogy, the other two books are called 'China Rich Girlfriend' and 'Rich People Problems'. This is the first western produced film with an exclusively all Asian cast in about 25 years-the last one was 'The Joy Luck Club' if I'm not mistaken. Constance plays a New York teacher that is dating Henry. When Henry gets an invite to a friend's wedding in Singapore, he decides it's time Constance met his family so he invites her along. Awkwafina plays Constance's long time friend that tags along, too, and she is hilarious. When they arrive is when Constance first finds out that he is from a very wealthy family. Michelle plays Henry's stuck-in-tradition mother that does not approve of his choice of girls-she is half American and not a true blooded Chinese girl. There are some cameos of Asian actors that you might recognize. I remember seeing Ken Jeong from the Hangover movies and Ronny Chieng from the Daily Show. There are some music covers, some sung in Chinese. If you like rom-coms, you should enjoy this one. It's rated "PG-13" for suggestive material and language and has a running time of 2 hours. I would probably buy it on DVD.

I could have written this script. It was a good movie but predictable. I kept thinking, "have I already seen this?" It was good but forgettable.

I came into this movie with the idea of it not living up to the hype that it was attracting, I came in prepared to be disappointed but let me reassure you that this is something you won't want to miss. It's not simply a movie about asian culture, anyone regardless of race can relate to this story and I think it is a MUST SEE MOVIE.