Review: Crazy Rich Asians

Dir. John M. Chu (2018)

The following review contains minor spoilers.

Cultures clash when a suitor must introduce their fiance to their “crazy” family. No this isn’t My Big Fat Greek Wedding or Meet the Parents or Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner or…you get the picture.

Point being, on its surface, there is nothing special about the story in Crazy Rich Asians and yet it still manages to transcend that shortcoming by excelling in nearly every other area. The cast is engaging and charming, the setting of Singapore is a fresh and interesting setting for a North American made film to utilize, and the visuals pop with color and life! You’ll probably be able to call out the story points before they land, but there’s just so much effort and energy thrown at the mediocre narrative that it’s practically impossible to be bored. Instead of being a bog-standard romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians feels like a celebration of standard romantic comedies! 

The cast is all very capable, but Awkwafina runs away with every scene she’s in. Standout role right there! The story errs on the side of overcrowding, they could have probably left a couple extended family story threads on the cutting room floor but overall there’s very little to critique.

Except for one gigantic factor. 

The movie as a whole is a sweet, kindhearted affair and that’s a bit of a problem. It’s the tale of an American being thrust into the high wealth upper class of Singapore; a country known for its authoritarian oppression, rigid class divide, and corrupt government. We’re talking about everything from fines for chewing gum in public, the death penalty for petty crimes, limitations on public gatherings, erasure of their indigenous peoples and culture...the place is, on a fundamental legislative level, a prison. Bringing an American into the high, privileged end of such a country and forcing them to struggle with the divide between the well-to-do and the so called “common folk” could easily provide a strong emotional undercurrent for the narrative to rest on. To make matters worse, a character spouts a brief history of the country which is a revisionist part-lie embraced and promoted by the current government. The movie never bothers to contest blatant propaganda like this. Ignoring this aspect of Singapore and instead just using it as an exotic backdrop for a bog-standard love story feels naive at best or purchased propaganda at worst. 

But hey, that’s probably just me. I could easily level similar criticisms of any film set in the United States of America, with it’s continuing worldwide list of inflicted atrocities, so why am I holding this movie to a different standard?

That’s just it, I suppose. Because it’s different, it was championed as this great step made in cinematic representation. To a point it really is, it’s hard to find wide release films featuring an all Asian cast and it must certainly get credit for that on top of being a fine example of its genre. 

Crazy Rich Asians, on its own terms, is a frivolous delight. But for me personally, its careful omissions muddy the aftertaste.

-Josh Evans

I'm always happy to see a generally positive movie about people who aren't just WHITE. I'm white. I'm privileged. I know it and it sucks, the world is broken, yes yes yes. BUT this movie has a slightly different story from the norm and an ALL ASIAN CAST and I'm so so happy about it. 

This is a super cute romcom that gives a nice little hint of SOME of the culture in Singapore. With the title it has, it's not hiding anything. I don't feel that I'm being lied to. This isn't all that exists in Singapore, but I wasn't assuming it was. It walked a fine line, but I think it did it pretty well.

The story was cute. It's very Cinderella-esque and I'm always for a Cinderella story, especially when it's told in a different way than the norm and pushing the boundaries of american cinema. The characters are almost all SO empowered and I love it, and I love Constance Wu and Awkwafina. I love them. They are perfect.

So if you like Cinderella & Awkwafina, you'll like this. That's enough. But no really, it's super cute. It's a fun watch and a great showcase of awesome Asian actors today, which we don't see nearly enough of.

-Katie Rose Witherell