Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Director: Jon M. Chu

Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh

This contemporary romantic comedy, based on a global bestseller, follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family.

I love Asian movies, which is why I wanted to see this film. Unfortunately, I can’t stress enough how annoyed I am with this film. Although this is essentially about Asians, the film couldn’t have been more American.

I loved the setting in beautiful Singapore, but that’s about as much as I enjoyed about the film. We hardly even knew the couple when they were jetting off to Singapore to meet Nick Young’s family. I would have preferred to know more about the couple and their relationship before they jetted off. Then again, this is nothing compared to what else I would have preferred the movie to be. In short, I HATED this film! It was so American, American, American, yawn, American…

Despite all their efforts, I didn’t find the plot credible enough. Everything here felt so forced as if to make a statement. Nothing happened naturally. Constance Wu might be an acclaimed actress, but I didn’t find her good enough as Rachel, as if she herself had doubts about the script. Henry Golding was very bland as Nick Young (well, maybe he’s not entirely to blame, as Nick Young was a very shallow, bland character). The rest of the cast was ok.

The obligatory third act ‘break-up’ was painstakingly forced and annoying. There was absolutely no reason for it and wasn’t plausible. It is so American… There was nothing romantic about this film. Towards the end I couldn’t wait for it to end because I got so bored. Cliche upon cliche upon cliche, and so predictable! Even though the director might be of Asian descent, he is every bit American, being born and raised in the States. Well, that figures…

The film was a huge box office success, mainly thanks to the American audience…Uhm, once again, that figures…