Crazy Rich Representation

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By Tom Pacak

First off, I want to apologize for not seeing “Crazy Rich Asians” sooner. I was on vacation when the movie was released and college has kept me busy. So here we are, I finally saw “Crazy Rich Asians,” the first all Asian cast film since 1993’s “The Joy Luck Club.” It has received critical acclaim and the film is the August sleeper hit of 2018. It has been number one at the box office for three straight weekends. It dropped 6.4% in earnings its second weekend (which is rare) and went up 15.2% on Labor Day Weekend. I guess you can say this movie is pretty special.

Now, the film itself is very entertaining. I’m actually kind of surprised to how fun this movie turned out to be. The director, Jon M. Chu, has directed bad entertaining movies that I wasn’t a fan of (Step Up 2-3, G.I. Joe: Retaliation). Chu, balances the interesting characters with beautiful set designs and wonderful music that has us asking for more (a sequel is already in development).

Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is an economics professor at NYU who specializes in game theory. One day her boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding) invites her to visit his family in Singapore. What Rachel doesn’t know is that Nick is apart of a crazy rich family with crazy old money. While Rachel has no idea who Nick Young really is, the rest of Asian culture does. Right after Nick invites her, word already spreads through social media that Nick is dating Rachel. This becomes news to Nick’s intimidating mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) before he even tells her himself. Eleanor hates Rachel before she even meets her. Eleanor just assumes Rachel’s in it for the money.

 From there, “Crazy Rich Asians” explores the Us vs. Them class war. The film has several moments where Rachel is viewed as a “gold-digging bitch.” Jealous ex-girlfriends of Nick try to destroy Rachel’s confidence by planting a dead fish in her bed (Godfather reference), Eleanor talks down to her and says, “She’ll never be good enough for Nick.” All of these dramatic people lack what Rachel has intelligence, integrity, and grace. In fact, Rachel is the smartest character in this movie and also a strong role model for not only Asian women but women in general. Rachel doesn’t lose her cool when people discredit her and is even kind to a family member of Nick’s who is going through a failed marriage. The fact of the matter is that Rachel doesn’t even care about how rich the Young family is, she loves Nick for who he is. This works for Nick because he doesn’t want to marry someone who knows he has money.

The film also includes a lot of funny moments from its super funny cast. Wu and Golding have great onscreen chemistry of a couple that loves each other for their personalities. Rapper Awkwafina scores some pointers as Goh Peik Lin, Rachel’s less successful college roommate. Plus, the always funny Ken Jeong is in there as Goh's father. There are some areas in the film that I wished I got to see more of. I really wished it went deeper into Astrid’s (Gemma Chan) failed relationship with her husband and I wanted to see more of Bernard Tai (Jimmy O. Yang) a hilarious former roommate of Nick’s who's definitely got a #metoo moment in his past.

Like what Marvel's "Black Panther" did for black culture, “Crazy Rich Asians” is definitely a film that’s going to be remembered for its representation of Asians on screen. The film also has themes that any other person of a different race can relate to. Although most of us can't relate to marrying into a 1% family, we can all relate to seeking love and approval from inlaws and loving somebody for who they are and not their possessions. The great cast and Jon Chu give us timeless themes to reflect on while also giving us a sweet entertaining romcom. I'm calling this one Crazy Rich Fun!

Rating: 3 stars out of 4


Note: Now Playing in Theaters

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