Crazy Rich Asians

In the past few days, I’ve read countless articles about how significant this movie is, being the first large Hollywood production to feature an all-Asian cast since 1993. Now, its significance to the cultural forces at play here are undeniable, but the question remains if it’s still a good movie.

And, for the most part, it is. But, it is still entrapped in all those rom-com cliches you’re probably already familiar with. After a strange prologue, weirdly disjointed from the rest of the film (and the only scene to feature white actors in a speaking role, only further distancing it from the story it ends up telling), the film plays out as any number of other rom-coms do. Beautiful woman falls in love with a rich man, and comes to find his family doesn’t approve of her. There’s a wacky comic relief character and, wow, look how wacky everyone is! But, of course, everything manages to work out by the time the credits role, because that’s how all of these movies end.

I was also surprised at the look of the production, in that it felt very much like any other studio film. Unfortunately, that is not a compliment. The film is not very pretty to look at. I had read that this film was initially going to be a Netflix production, and I don’t think it would look too out of place there.

It sounds like I’m beating this movie to a pulp, but it really isn’t awful. The cast is serviceable, and Constance Wu is delightful in the lead. I had just hoped, with all that I’ve read about how groundbreaking this film is, that it would have more to offer. I had seen this film with a friend of mine, an Asian-American (he said he felt obligated to see it, haha), and upon leaving the theater, all he could muster was that it was “alright”.

However, despite either of our feelings (or lack thereof), Crazy Rich Asians is already a smash hit. Let’s hope that its success will bring in better films from this too often ignored demographic.