Crazy Rich Asians review: Money, mischief, and mahjong.

Based from the best-selling novel by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians (2018) is
a delightful take on Chinese culture, incorporating Holywood norms like a
match-made-in-heaven couple, invalidating parents, and resplendent parties
not very much credited to people outside America.

Groundbreaking in a sense, Crazy Rich Asians is the first movie since The
Joy Luck Club (1993) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) to have a
full Asian cast. Two professors, Rachel Chu and Nick Young, travel back to
Nick’s hometown of Singapore to attend the most opulent wedding of the year.
Rachel, however, is ignorant to her boyfriend’s wealth and enters into a world
of jealous ex-girlfriends, backbiting aunts, and a disapproving mother.

The movie is a good blend of chic and cautious, with stylish camerawork
(check out the scene where they pan out to view the whole of Tyersall Park)
and careful screenwriting to make movie-goers believe these are Chinese
people who can speak English and not Chinese people who can speak
broken English. They even poke fun of it in one scene, proving ultimately that
they are observant of racial stereotypes towards the Chinese race and use it
for the basis of their humor. The humor here is superb as well, lines from
Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Nico Santos are well-delivered, accented even
with comedy in their overexaggerated and hyperbolic movements.

In a movie about crazy rich everything, elegance is key. This movie could as
well be an example for how to show affluence to drive the story line. It may
not be as stylistic as Nocturnal Animals (2017) or The Devil Wears Prada
(2006), but it paints the theme of ‘sickly rich’ excellently enough. With a
budget of nearly $30 million, cheaper than similarly grandiose movies like The
Great Gatsby (2013), Crazy Rich Asians proves that displaying richness
comes from more than just possessions. Not forgetting to mention, the acting
is equally as rich, especially with that of Gemma Chan, who plays the resilient
Astrid Leong, and newcomer Henry Golding, who plays the lead Nick Young.

With all things said, Crazy Rich Asians isn’t a perfect film. Some scenes can
be considered overdoing it, characters that were developed in the book are
put at the side in the movie, and (though it’s over 2 hours long) some parts
seem to be too sped up. I think these statements are less of the point. Crazy
Rich Asians is one of a kind: a full Asian cast in this world of ‘Ghost In the
Shell’s and ‘The Great Wall’s. It feels almost like a breath-of-life to people of
Asian cultures who have been wishing for representation in the most popular
media thus far. It’s less of a love story between two people and more of a love
story between culture and representation, creating a firework movie that
works well among all kinds of audiences.