Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Back in 2002 there was a little film that put an ethnic spin on the romantic comedy genera and road that to record breaking success at the box office ($368.7 million gross world wide on a $5 million dollar budget). That film of course was My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it's not so secret ingredient, Greeks. More then a decade and a half later another film has road genera ethnic novelty to great box office heights, so far $237.9 million on a $30 million budget. This film of course is Crazy Rich Asians, and its hook is being a fantasy-fulfillment- romantic-comedy about Asians, principally of the crazy rich variety.

Based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians is the story of Asian-American economics professor Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) to attend his best friends wedding and meet his family. To her, but not the audiences, surprise Nick's family is crazy rich, to the point where Nick is a celebrity in Asia of the most eligible bachelor verity, fortunately he turns out to a real nice and shockingly grounded guy. Now one must put aside the fact that a smart women like Rachel would doubtless have at least googled her boyfriend in the year she is said to have been with him, because the conceit of the film demands it and again this is a wish fulfillment movie. A 'what if the person I legitimately love was secretly super rich as well, therefore I can get to enjoy a lavish lifestyle without having to deal with a sense of guilt that I might only be with this person because of their money' fantasy.

The chemistry between the two leads work, there is a nice arc to the piece, beautiful, lavish sets and locations, a workable secondary story, and a large supporting cast full of likable characters, including recent pop culture arrival Awkwafina as comic relief. I left the film feeling, for the most part, that I really enjoyed these people and I'd like to see them again, and their is legitimate talk of sequel so that's certainly a possibility. It's shocking to think that this is the first major Hollywood film with a majority Asian cast and a contemporary setting since The Joy Luck Club, and that was literally 25 years ago. So this is more novel then it should be and it would be nice to see more of an Asian American cinema in the 21st century. Crazy Rich Asians is a very enjoyable movie, it's smart, funny, well made, heart felt, first rate stuff, and refreshingly different, this will almost certainly by on my top ten list at the end of the year. ****