Henry Golding, Constance Wu,
Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan
"The only Thing crazier than Love is Family"
I had no idea nor was I aware this movie was based on a popular novel by Kevin Kwan, a Singaporean author now based in the US. Everyone (by everyone I meant the critics and the mainstream media) was raving about it being a first since it was a Hollywood made film with an all Asian cast.
Well, naturally the roles would be enacted by Asian actors, right? Long gone are the days when white actors would color their faces with black shoe polish to portray African Americans or white actresses would have their eyes made up to look Asian.
The premise of poor girl meets rich boy and live happily ever after has been done various times in movies and plays all over the world. Nothing new really. So in Crazy Rich Asians, you have all the cliches - rich future mother-in-law disapproving of poor girlfriend, society (mis)judging the stature of the girlfriend of the most eligible bachelor in town, poor girl feels out of place etc etc etc.
Yet one thing stands out imho - that is the rich bachelor Nick Young remains humble and does not boast about his wealth. He may have not told Rachel (Constance Wu) about his background but this goes to show, it did not define him. He was living in the US, had no interest in maintaining the family business, he just happen to be in town for the wedding of his best friend. In short, he is a cool dude and it doesn't hurt that he is portrayed by Henry Golding (not an Asian name, at all) who is va va voom handsome, dear Lord!
I like the feisty spirit of Rachel. She remains true to herself and won't let her lack of stature defeat her. Sure she will be sad and feel betrayed but she is a brilliant scientist and an economics professor - that is more than just 'good enough'.
The rest of the cast do good. They are tailor fit for their roles especially Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor Young, the mother of va va voom. Her conceited gaze, her regal bearing, calm yet menacing demeanor was spot on. This former Bond girl is aging really well, I'd say.
The author meant this film to be an expose (I may be wrong) on how the rich treat the 'poor' members of society as being less worthy. But for me that whole rich vs poor premise is pretty lame. Of course, the rich will look down on the poor, it happens anywhere and every time in any part of the world.
It shouldn't be an issue let alone be the whole theme for a movie which took itself too seriously. Yes it is a Hollywood movie with an Asian narrative and cast but it should not restrict itself from being a good film. And gratefully, it was a well made fun, dramatic, romcom which should be proud and stand on its own merits.