Crazy Rich Asians (2018 film)

Category: Romance drama with comedy elements.

-----

Maybe this movie should have instead been titled "Crazy Rich Singaporeans Of Chinese Descent" because, in reality, while the movie is titled Crazy Rich Asians, it focuses only on one type of Asian - Chinese - and only in one country - Sinagpore - as if there aren't also wealthy Asians of other ethnicities, be they Indians or Vietnamese or Japanese somewhere in Singapore, let alone the rest the world. Ah well.

To sum up Crazy Rich Asians, I'd call it a romance drama that borrows plot points from Chinese teledrama series. If you happen to be familiar with Chinese (or other Asian) teledrama series, you'll recognise the tropes right away.

The plot of this movie goes as such: Rachel (played by Constance Wu) is an economics professor who doesn't know that the man she is dating in New York, Nick (Henry Golding), is the son of the wealthiest real estate tycoon in Singapore . However, this secret is revealed when the two travel back to Singapore where Nick is the best man at his best friend's wedding.

Cue the bitchiness from the other jealous women as well as from Nick's mum (Michelle Yeoh) looking to protect her son and her reputation, to which end she employs an investigator to bring up the secrets hiding in Rachel's family's closet. Alongside this are sub-plots of Nick's brother-in-law cheating on his famous wife, as well as all the partying and banquets that rich people get up to.

Despite the hiccups, true love finds a way and the happy ever after story plays out.

---

As I said, if you're familiar with Asian teledrama series, you will feel in familiar territory. The only things missing are the histrionic over-acting during dramatic moments and the barrage of replays of dramatic moments featuring said histrionic over-acting.

Now, as a movie, Crazy Rich Asians is OK, I suppose. The first half is a real slog, to the point that I started writing this review half an hour in because I felt like I wasn't going to miss anything - the second half is when the story gets going and becomes more engaging. But truth be told, this movie didn't deserve a two-hour runtime and the producers should have been more judicious with what was and wasn't included.

Also, calling it a romantic comedy really isn’t accurate - it's probably more a romance drama with comedic elements, as opposed to a comedy proper (despite the presence of numerous comedians cast). In fact, most of the comedy is so understated that it's easily missed.

Run-time and categorisation issues aside, I also have some observations to make as someone who has been numerous times to and has relatives living in Singapore:

- The biggest is that this movie and its happenings are set in Singapore, as opposed to a movie featuring Singapore. To me, this is a missed opportunity. Now, sure, one could make a similar complaint about movies like Straight Outta Compton or The Great Gatsby showing an equally myopic and unrepresentative view of the United States as this movie does of Singapore, but I genuinely thought that for a western mainstream big-budget full-length feature set in Asia and with an Asian cast, someone somewhere should have pushed to treat this movie as a tourism advertisement and really hype up the place. Alas, no. Singapore as a multicultural melting pot with plenty of shopping and food is barely there. In fact, I'd actually go so far to say that if you want to watch a more realistic big-screen portrayal of Singapore, go watch any of Jack Neo's films from the early 2000's.

One unintended consequence of this lack of authenticity regarding Singapore is that almost everyone speaks with a British accent that verges on Australian at times, when in reality most Singaporeans (even the PM) speak a local dialect using loanwords from other languages that I'd argue leans closer to sounding American. Now, the lack of authentic accents can be explained by the rich parents having sent their children to British boarding schools, but still. This movie could have easily been set in England, given how everyone speaks.

- I also have a problem with the supporting cast - Awkwafina is hella annoying, though I will concede her annoying friend schtick does have its charm at times. Her performance here comes across like she came fresh off the set of The Little Mermaid and turned the Scuttle character down one (but only one) notch.

Ken Jeong (a Korean) playing a Chinese guy? Ummm, yeah, right.

And as much as I love Ronny Chieng, Ronny Chieng is essentially playing Ronny Chieng going by a different name.

However, I do have to say that the one thing Crazy Rich Asians does get right is how judgemental and how materialistic Singaporeans are. As someone who in a cross-cultural marriage, I can vouch for this from first-hand experience.

But how was the movie? It doesn't do anything to warrant a recommendation, nor a sequel.

STAR RATING: 2.75/5