About a month ago, my girlfriend and I took a vacation together and we didn’t have a ton of money so we decided to relax and do some fun stuff around where we live. We decided to catch a movie one of those days and we both thought “Hotel Transylvania 3” looked cute so we were set to see that. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones to think that because the theater was booked. So, we decided to see something else since we were already at the theater. It was between “The Meg” and “Crazy Rich Asians”. We decided on this film since it seemed different.
I wasn’t sure what “Crazy Rich Asians” would be like. I mean, it was directed by Jon M. Chu whose claim to fame up until then was the Justin Bieber concert film “Never Say Never” and “G.I. Joe: Retaliation”. I noticed they didn’t include those notes on the film’s marketing. Still, this film was based on Kevin Kwan’s popular 2013 book so the film had a good blueprint to work with. I am pleased to say Chu and the rest of the crew working on the production did a wonderful job.
The film premise is simple, it’s about a young couple who want to get married but the future husband is actually a member of one of China’s richest families and she is going to have to meet his family before they get married. Naturally, things do not go smoothly. So with a movie like this, which can easily cross into soap opera territory if done wrong, the cast is extremely important.
Luckily the cast is killer and they all do a wonderful job. Constance Wu plays Rachel Chu (the soon to be wife) and Henry Golding plays Nick Young (the rich soon to be husband) and they both nail their roles. Wu and Golding are wonderful together and have an organic chemistry. None of their scenes felt forced. Also making up the main cast is the legendary Michelle Yeoh in the role of Eleanor Sung-Young, mother of Nick. Yeoh is one of the few actors who can get by with playing a somewhat mean character while conveying something deeper behind her motives. Awkwafinya was also a standout as Rachel’s old college roommate and friend while Ken Jeong is humorous as her father.
“Crazy Rich Asians” has a lot going for it and is surprisingly entertaining. It’s not a big surprise to see it remains a sleeper hit in the vain of “My Big Fat Wedding”. From the cast to the beautiful scenery, “Crazy Rich Asians” delivers.
Grade: A-
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