Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Film: Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Stars: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong
Director: Jon M. Chu
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

It is shocking to me, truly shocking, that we have waited 25 years since The Joy Luck Club for Hollywood to create a film that has a majority-Asian cast in a modern setting.  As a young gay man who grew up in an era where the only gay people I frequently was able to see were gay characters (played by straight actors on television) like Will Truman or Jack McPhee, I think it's worth saying right up-front, before I get into the merits of this movie, that I'm glad that this was a success.  Too often we dismiss how important films and being viewed in pop culture are, particularly for young people, and so this being a hit that resonated with audiences, and hopefully will result in more movies with diverse casts being greenlit in the future.  Now, onto my review!

(Spoilers Ahead) The film centers on Rachel Chu (Wu) an economics professor at NYU who is in love with her boyfriend of a year Nick Young (Golding), who wants to take her to his best friend's wedding in Singapore.  Rachel, who apparently has no intellectual curiosity about her smoking hot, charming boyfriend (seriously-the man candy in this film is on-point, and I would think it's inappropriate to say that, but this film is a lot about objectification so I think it's worth point out), doesn't know that he's totally loaded, flying in a private lounge on their flight to Singapore, and soon learns that he's a member of one of the wealthiest families in Asia, and comes with a motley crew of family members, as well as a terrifying mother, Eleanor (Yeoh), who is intent on breaking them up.  The film follows as Rachel tries to acclimate to this alien world of wealth, and seeing if she is willing to take on the responsbilities of this world and the pressures that come from a relationship with Nick.

The film's diversity is the only part of the film where we see the picture breaking the mold, as otherwise this feels like a relatively simple romantic comedy that, unfortunately, too-often forgets the comedy part of the equation, and even subtracts too much of the plot to focus on the CRAZY RICH part of the plot.  Indeed, the movie is a feast for the eyes as we move through a cascade of parties that feel too opulent to be real (they likely are, but considering what is currently in my checking account, I'll need to find a Nick Young to ever find out), and increasingly silly-seeming ways of showing obscene wealth (the wedding, in particular, feels absurd).  The wealth-porn, honestly, gets to the point where I'm like "okay, let's be done," as while Rachel doesn't put a lot of stock into this world, everyone else does, including the screenwriters and director, who only once show the downfalls of such intense, disgusting displays of wealth-porn, and even then make it seem more like the characters' faults rather than the money's.

But this would be easier to dismiss if there was more going on in the picture.  The two leads, while beautiful, don't have movie star charisma and aren't able to lift the dryness of their relationship up enough.  I honestly felt so short-changed by them, as it's clear why he likes her (she's smart, successful, self-made), but it's never clear why she likes him other than obvious aesthetic reasons.  He's lied for most of their relationship, is so dull that he's completely dismissed everything that happened before meeting Rachel, and doesn't seem to have anything to lend himself to an economics professor other than abs.  For a movie that wants so desperately for Rachel to be the one who isn't suckered by wealth, the only one who isn't, it might have a problem because Nick Young as played in this film is just a manic-pixie-dream-boy, and Rachel might be shallow in ways other than cash.

The film has too many side plots, not knowing entirely what to do with characters like Astrid (Gemma Chan, under-emoting, gives the film's best performance but the screenwriters clearly assume you read the books as she feels like we need more back story).  This isn't an isolated problem, as the screenwriters frequently assume you read the books, giving too many characters short shift or relying upon 2-dimensional portrayals of people to get their point across.  Michelle Yeoh is not an actor who you'd accuse of phoning it in, and indeed there are moments where we see the fire of a proper movie star here, but even she falls a bit when it comes to playing the dragon mother.  The movie takes on too many ideas, clearly not knowing what to cut (what was with the deeply violent fish in bed/"gold digging bitch" scene where Nick didn't have a proper reaction to it at all?!?), and didn't seem to have the confidence of knowing there'd be a big enough audience of people who'd never read the books.  As a result, this is frothy, but there's no feeling, not enough humor, and not compelling enough leads to warrant much celebration outside its important conversation regarding diversity.