Why YOU should watch Crazy Rich Asians
The Quick Synopsis
Guy invites girlfriend to his hometown for his best friend’s wedding. Unbeknownst to her, guy is hiding (lesson #1: don’t hide important facts from your SO) that he’s from one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. And of course, he’s got a mom with “high standards” for her boy.
TLDR;
Typical rom-com with strong comedy & beautiful scenery. A little weakness on the dramatic element because they were trying to do too much with the unique all-Asian cast, but regardless, I’d recommend a watch if you’re looking for a fun movie to finish off the summer. Rating: 7.0/10
For the General Audience
As a rom-com, it’s pretty standard fare. Some romantic drama, some comedy, a so-so “You had me at hello” moment, coming out with optimism for humanity, and a lot of Asian.
Cinematography
One plus for the movie, though, was the visuals. The location scouting was on-point, with beautiful scenery galore, including the iconic views of Singapore. It wasn’t a visual journey like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but it was quite beautiful nonetheless.
Romance/Drama
The emotional core is led by the lead women, driven by Constance Wu & Michelle Yeoh’s girlfriend — future-MIL drama + Gemma Chan and the drama in her own nuclear family. The drama conveys thoughts and ideas, dipping into the dramatic core a bit more than some rom-com’s…but it was hard to do well with the time spent building the drama.
In a sense, it felt like they were trying to get as many Asians on screen as possible, while showcasing the strengths of them all, but drama doesn’t work as well in short bursts.
Comedy
You should watch this movie cause it’s a fun movie perfect for a summer end cap. Comedy works well in short bursts and it worked well with the likes of Ronny Chieng, Ken Jeong, Awkwafina, Nico Santos, and Jimmy Yang manning the comedic helm.
Anytime you get a comedic troupe of that level, it’s going to be fun (Ken Jeong’s latest TV show was 🙄, but he’s perfect for these kinds of movies). And honestly, the comedy was what made the movie enjoyable for me & why I’d recommend it for anyone looking for an escape movie.
At the same time, maybe I just have no heart, cause while I was leaving the theater, I did hear some non-Asian people saying that they really enjoyed it and even cried. I guess I’m too harsh 😅.
For the Asian
Go watch this cause we should support our fellow Asians who are trying to break into their industry. We need to show studios that an all-Asian cast makes financial sense.
At this point in time, it’s looking all right. The studio is projecting a 5-day opening of $29M, with BoxOfficeMojo predicting $35M+ because of some strong indicators. Hope we can break into the $40M’s!
This movie had the trappings of a good movie, with a solid story line and cast, but I think it had a similar problem to Black Panther. It was ground-breaking in a way, so it’d almost feel wrong to not do something expressing that ground-breaking nature.
For Crazy Rich Asians, I mentioned it earlier, but it feels like one thing they tried to do is to highlight the sheer volume of talent in the Asian community by going with this massive ensemble cast. With less characters and consequently, more character development, the dramatic moments would’ve hit a bit harder.
Not that the drama was bad, but I’m just disappointed cause it could’ve been even better! I give it a pass because of the unique situation they were placed in.
As Asians, though, it did touch on some issues like: the difference between Asian-Americans and Asians + the strong consideration of family and background in Asian marriages (not just among the uber wealthy, unfortunately).
That’s the nice part about movies with an all-Asian cast or some other minority-led cast is that they can delve into issues that do relate to that minority group.
This is being nit-picky, but one area that I was a bit disappointed was how small the leading man felt. The male supporting cast had standout moments particularly within comedy, but the leading man felt like a castoff character.
It’s not so much that I’m against how the women carried this movie; if anything, I really liked that part. But as an Asian man, you can’t help but notice how within the overall American culture, Asian women are generally viewed more favorably than Asian men. Hah, they did put in the shower scene showing off some abs (obligatory in kdramas 😆).
I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t create a stronger male character, but that’s really just asking for too much, which goes with that whole “because this is a special movie, it should do X, in addition to trying to be a great movie”.
Final Thoughts
As much as this was the movie with an all-Asian cast, this wasn’t a movie for Asians. It is a movie built for an American audience. It’s likely why they went with such a typical rich guy, poor girl theme. It’s familiar and easily digestable. A rich guy in Asian culture is similar enough to a rich guy in Western culture 😆.
And at the end of the day, it was a fun movie with some amazing scenery. A good movie to go into for a little escape from the real world.
I’m proud of what they accomplished. As I felt with Black Panther for the African-American community (what a triumph!), I hope this gives more latitude to make more movies that speak to the Asian-American experience here in the U.S. Asian-Americans have already been doing it in other venues like dance and music, the YouTube scene, comedy, martial arts movies, and even more recently TV, with Fresh Off the Boat. Here’s to more and more Asian-Americans feeling like their story is worthy of being told!
OVERALL SCORE: 7.0
- STORY: 6.5/10
- DIRECTING: 7.5/10
- WRITING: 7.0/10
- LEAD Actors: 7.5/10
- SUPPORTING Cast: 9.0/10
- CINEMATOGRAPHY: 8.0/10
- MUSIC: pretty typical, but interesting cause they played a lot of Chinese-language versions of American songs
- WATCH again with future spouse? 6/10
The run down: A rom-com with an emphasis on the comedy + some amazing scenery!
