Eleanor calls her husband and then returns to the hotel. The manager insists she leave or they will call the police. She is unfazed. The owner rushes down to enthusiastically greet her and announce that he has just spoken with her husband and is selling the hotel to the Young family of Singapore. The manager suddenly looks panicked. As she follows the soon-to-be-former owner of the hotel to his suite for a toast, she looks back at the manager and and his staff. "Do get a mop," she commands. "The floor's wet." It's one of the best scenes in the movie.
Crazy Rich Asians, adapted from the novel by Kevin Kwan, is the first major film from Hollywood to feature a predominantly Asian and Asian-American cast since The Joy Luck Club twenty-five years ago. It's disappointing that it has taken so long for another one. But given the success of this film, we may be heading into more diverse territory soon (hopefully).
Constance Wu plays Rachel Chu, an economics professor at New York University. She's dating another professor named Nick Young (son of Eleanor). He's adorable but kind of frugal, using her Netflix password and things like that. But he invites her to Singapore for spring break so they can attend his best friend's wedding. Within a matter of minutes, the entire Young family and their network know of this Rachel Chu, and they can't stand her. Even though Rachel's mother is unaware of this gossip, she tries to warn her daughter as she heads abroad to meet Nick's family.
"Your face is Chinese," she tells Rachel. "You speak Chinese." But, she adds in English, "you're different."
She's right. According to the Hofstede Center, China is a collectivist culture that can be described as masculine (success-oriented and and driven), often acting with the "interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves." The Center also claims that "people should not have aspirations above their rank." This helps explain how Rachel will be viewed by Nick's family.
On the way to Singapore, Rachel discovers that Nick is not totally who he has led on to be. Given their private suite on the plane, Nick appears to be rich -- crazy rich. Or, as he tells her, "comfortable." He tells her that the money is his family's money, not his. His family is indeed rich, and their riches are spread out across the region. One cousin is a film producer in Taiwan. There's another cousin named Eddie (played by Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng), a big finance guy in Hong Kong. And then there's Astrid (played by Gemma Chan), a fashion icon and probably the only cousin that Nick likes. Rachel will eventually discover that Nick is practically royalty.
The wealth of Singapore is on display from the beginning (perhaps a little too ostentatiously). One of the best lines is as Rachel walks through the airport in Singapore and remarks that there is a butterfly garden and a cinema, while JFK airport only has "salmonella and despair." During another moment, a father lectures his children that they have to finish their lunch because "there's a lot of children starving in America." In the movie, there is a more-than-obvious critique of selfie culture, gossip, and classism, especially in relation to how Eleanor (the Tiger Mom version of The Devil Wears Prada) and the others treat Rachel. Eleanor's despising Rachel is more than apparent, though like in the beginning scene, she tries to make it appear subtle. She particularly dislikes the way Rachel chases her passion (so American), not to mention the fact that Rachel was raised by a single mother who waited tables and became a real-estate agent. It's actually kind of cringe-worthy when Rachel chimes in with Nick's family, because no matter what she says or how she says it, Eleanor et al will attack.
Wu's performance is as natural as they come, and it's the most delightful of the year. The only problem I had was the way she talks as a professor in class, but I figured that was more of a problem with the screenwriting. (Professors don't talk like that; they never have and they never will. It's an annoying trope that movies and television should get rid of.) In addition to Wu and Yeoh, Awkwafina as Rachel's friend Peik Lin is usually quite funny, like a combination of the slapstick of the Silent Era and the Fifties. Henry Golding as Nick is sometimes a little too charming, but it mostly works.
Crazy Rich Asians takes the typical approach to princess-making in romantic comedies and turns it on its head. Rachel already is perfect in an American context -- she's smart, talented, beautiful, friendly, humble, forgiving, and an NYU professor. But for Eleanor Young, she will never be enough. She becomes a princess and it still doesn't work out. So she has to embrace her Americanness and show Eleanor what she's made of. And when she does, she channels all the class, wit, and humility that she has. It's the very best moment of the film, and it goes without saying that you'll be rooting for her all the way.
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