Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

If it wasn't for Film Twitter, I would have never heard of Crazy Rich Asians as it got absolutely no marketing in my country —they even changed the title into Crazy & Rich. I read only good things about it so I had pretty high expectations and unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype. It's not a terrible film, don't get me wrong, but it's just another clichéd romantic comedy.

The film follows Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an American-born Chinese economics professor, who she travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) to attend his best friend's (Chris Pang) wedding only to learn that Nick comes from one of Asia's most wealthy and prominent families. Once in Singapore, Rachel becomes the target of jealous socialities and Nick's disapproving mother (Michelle Yeoh). 

The story lacks originality as it is the overused romance with familiar tension, the typical American comedy only with an Asian Chinese cast. It is pretty shallow and predictable, it doesn't always feel focused, and the pace is a bit slow. Despite this, it's enjoyable and the ending, although predictable, almost teared me up. 

Just like the plot, the characters are pretty shallow too. Every single character, including Rachel, is one dimensional and stereotyped, and their characterization is limited to pretty and nice, pretty and mean, pretty and materialistic, and obviously gay who is into fashion. But again, despite the poor writing, I connected with Rachel and I cared about her, which is why the clichéd ending worked for me.

And the credits entirely go to the Constance Wu. Her performance is a bit flat and kinda feels lifeless at times —maybe that's what she was going for, maybe that's how the character is in the novel. I haven't read it so I don't know— but she is so likeable, you fall for her characters. She doesn't convey a lot of humour but her chemistry with first-time actor Henry Golding is amazing. 

Warner Bros. Pictures

The best performances, however, come from Michelle Yeoh who is very intimidating as the future mother-in-law, a tough but loving woman, and Awkwafina who completely steals the show as Goh Peik Lin/Asian Ellen, Rachel's charismatic college best friend —she is hilarious and lightens up the tone of the film when needed. The film needed more of her as she is the only one who effectively delivers humour, which is why Crazy Rich Asians is feels like more like a drama than a comedy, and it's supposed to be both.