By: Erende Sangma
Being the first major Hollywood movie to feature an all-Asian cast in more than 20 years ever since “The Joy Luck Club” in 1993, “Crazy Rich Asians” signifies a cultural milestone and representation in a white dominant industry. Based on the 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan, the movie is directed by Jon M. Chu and features a huge ensemble cast that includes Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Nico Santos, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh.
The movie opens with a scene in London in 1995, where Eleanor Young and her family arrives at a private luxurious hotel where they are denied their suite reservation by the manager who rather suggests them to explore Chinatown. This opening scene was quite powerful and shows the racial discrimination that is experienced by a lot of Asians even until today.
The movie follows a Chinese-American professor Rachel Chu, who is raised by a single working-class immigrant mother, and her journey to Singapore with her boyfriend, Nick Young, who is an heir to one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. Unaware of her boyfriend’s “crazy rich” family, she flies to Singapore with him for his best friend’s wedding. It is only after Rachel arrives in Singapore and visits her college friend Peik Lin and her family that she discovers the truth, and also finds out that her boyfriend is perhaps the most sought after bachelor in the city. After Rachel meets Nick’s family, she is constantly criticised and judged by them, especially Nick’s mother who feels that Rachel will never be good enough. The movie follows the conflict and struggles that Rachel and Nick further face in their relationship.
Before watching the movie, I had zero expectations. I wasn’t sure if I’d want to watch amovie about rich superficial people and their soap opera lives, but I went in for the movie hoping for some entertainment and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. I was entertained from the beginning till the end of the movie, be it Awkwafina and Ken Jeong’s hilarious father-daughter duo or Michelle Yeoh’s Ekta Kapoor–esque mother-in-law character.
Crazy Rich Asians follow the same formula of a rom-com movie plot, just with a different permutation, but has more layers to it. It showed us class discrimination and societal acceptance but most importantly, the identity crisis that an Asian American immigrant faces. The movie also shows us the multi-layers of South Eastacceptance, the values, the traditions, and the city of Singapore in all its glory. The subtle Tupperware scene, where Rachel’s mother packs food for her to take on the plane to Singapore, had me rolling and must have struck a chord with most Asians.
Crazy Rich Asians is not a work of art and definitely has its flaws, but it did revive the dying rom-com genre and can indeed be touted as one of the best rom-com movies of 2018. It’s a light-hearted, entertaining movie that will make you laugh, and cry (at the beautiful wedding scene), and laugh a little more.
Tabeer 