Movie Review—Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians
Theatrical release poster

by Peter J. O'Connell

Crazy Rich Asians. Released: Aug. 2018. Runtime: 120 mins. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some suggestive content and language.

The rising importance of Asia in world affairs and the growth of the Asian/Pacific population in the United States have not been reflected in an increase in American films featuring Asian and Asian-American casts and themes. The last U.S. film before this year with an all-Asian and Asian-American cast was 1993's The Joy Luck Club. That situation seems about to change now with the release of the very popular and highly praised Crazy Rich Asians, which promises to spawn a lucrative franchise.

The film, smartly directed by Jon M. Chu, based on the novel by Kevin Kwan, may revive the romantic comedy genre, so popular in the 1980s, '90s, and '00s but flagging in recent years. Constance Wu stars as Rachel Chu, a lovely young woman who has become a professor at New York University after being raised in Queens by a struggling single mom (Tan Kheng Hua). Rachel's boyfriend is another young professor, actually Nick Young (Henry Golding), a good-looking and charming fellow from the Chinese community in Singapore.

Nick invites Rachel to accompany him to Singapore for the wedding of his best friend, Colin (Chris Pang), and to meet the Young family. It is only on the flight to Singapore that Rachel learns for the first time that the modest Nick is the scion of an enormously wealthy family and is expected by the family to become head of its economic empire soon. Rachel is disconcerted by this news. 

She is even more disconcerted when she meets Nick's family and realizes that Nick's mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), dislikes her because of her lower-middle-class background and her American individualism. But Rachel, motivated by her love for Nick and belief in his love for her, attempts to make her way amid the class and cultural pitfalls all around her in Singapore and the personal issues involving jealousies and affairs that emerge for several of the characters. (The film is a bit overstuffed with secondary characters and subplots.) These attempts by Rachel are amusing, but at one point she even has to deal with an incident reminiscent of a famous scene in The Godfather! All of this takes place against a background of jaw-gaping, mega-Gatsbyesque parties and celebrations put on by the rich and famous of the island nation. 

As Shakespeare wrote: “The course of true love never did run smooth.” And eventually the possible future together of Rachel and Nick hangs in the balance as families and their values clash. The movie has had a kind of Shakespearean scope, but does it have a Shakespearean romantic resolution? Of course, you know the answer to that question, but how it all plays out definitely is fun. 

The film's casting couldn't have been better. Constance Wu holds both our attention and affection throughout, and Henry Golding is the essence of “handsome hunk,” but utterly lacking in the narcissism sometimes associated with HH's. Michelle Yeoh is a wonder as Nick's mother. Her gentility is so glacial that she could cool a movie theatre in summer even if the air conditioning were off. And the movie's production design—those costumes! those settings! those parties!--is spectacular, to say the least.

“Footnote” to the film: The Wedding Banquet, directed by Ang Lee, came out in 1993, the same year as The Joy Luck Club. Set in New York City, its hilarious plot, like that of Crazy Rich Asians, centers around a wedding, but with gay characters involved. The cast is Asian, Asian-American, and Caucasian.