What Professionals Have To Say About The Movie

1. The venue is fabulous - if any part of Singapore is less dazzlingly picturesque, we don’t see it here - the music is excellent. The food includes homemade dumplings, street-stall delicacies, and lavish banquet dishes. But the key to this party is undoubtedly the guest list. It has been noted that this is the first Hollywood movie in a long time with a predominantly Asian and Asian-American cast. If anything, this observation understates the diversity of the performers onscreen in terms of both their origins and their pop-cultural affiliations. 

[1] Scott, A. O. “Review: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Is a Party with a First-Rate Guest List.” The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2018. www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/movies/crazy-rich-asians-review.html.

2. The movie is committed to the value of a good time. It is an unabashed celebration of luxury and money, with hints of class conflict that have more to do with aspiration than envy or anger. It is set in an Asia miraculously free of history or politics. Comic relief is provided by Peik Lin Goh (Awkwafina), Rachel’s nutty friend, and her nutty parents (Mr. Jeong and Koh Chieng Mun). Whole nouveau riche tackiness stands in contrast to the aristocratic hauteur of the Young family. Not everyone in that class is as regal as Eleanor or blandly agreeable as her son. There is a gaggle of funny aunties and a witty gay cousin (Nico Santos), who is no less amusing for being a rather tiresome stereotype. 

[2] Scott, A. O. “Review: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Is a Party with a First-Rate Guest List.” The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2018. www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/movies/crazy-rich-asians-review.html.

3. Without betraying any overt nostalgia, “Crazy Rich Asians” casts a fond eye backward and Eastward, conjuring a world defined by hierarchies and prescribed roles in a way that evokes classic novels and films. Its keenest romantic impulse has less to do with Nick and Rachel’s rather pedestrian love story than with the allure of endless luxury and dynastic authority. Which I guess is pretty modern, after all. 

[3] Scott, A. O. “Review: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Is a Party with a First-Rate Guest List.” The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2018. www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/movies/crazy-rich-asians-review.html.

4. The distinction between Asian and Asian American is a conversation we’ve rarely seen in mainstream films, and one of the exciting things about Crazy Rich Asians is how the entirely Asian cast allows for these inter-community conversations to get teased out. Despite her best efforts to impress, Rachel immediately finds herself at odds with Nick’s mother, Eleanor Young,  a matriarch steeped in tradition and duty who finds Rachel’s Americanness wholly distasteful. “You’re a foreigner…all Americans care about is their happiness,” Eleanor tells her. That Rachel has no longstanding cultural roots in any country, worked her way up from nothing, and speaks of keeping her job were she to marry Nick, all single her out as an outsider, someone who is Asian, yet not, in all the ways that matter. 

[4] Smail, Gretchen. “Crazy Rich Asians Review – Glossy Romcom Is a Vital Crowd-Pleaser.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 Aug. 2018. www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/13/crazy-rich-asians-review-kevin-kwan.  

5. While much of Jon M. Chu’s “Crazy Rich Asians” glitters in the film’s opulent settings, glided homes, and flashy outfits and jewels, it’s still a simple love story made complicated by family. Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable, even if most of us are not married to or dating secret millionaires. And though the film may feel overstuffed, it all works for its story. 

[5] Castillo, Monica. “Crazy Rich Asians Movie Review (2018): Roger Ebert.” Movie Review (2018) | Roger Ebert, 15 Aug. 2018. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crazy-rich-asians-2018. 

6. Unlike many recent romantic comedy heroines, Rachel doesn’t long for something better or have her life in shambles. She’s a somewhat well-put-together career woman, happily in love and excited (if nervous) to meet Nick’s family. Wu plays her as a quick-witted person with a light and optimistic outlook that love will conquer all. 

[6] Castillo, Monica. “Crazy Rich Asians Movie Review (2018): Roger Ebert.” Movie Review (2018) | Roger Ebert, 15 Aug. 2018. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crazy-rich-asians-2018. 

7. In addition to the money differences between characters, very few films have ever captured the pains of being a first-generation American quite like “Crazy Rich Asians,” Rachel is Chinese-American, which her best friend Peik Lin (Awkwafina) jokes are why her potential in-laws look down on her as a “banana” - yellow on the outside, white on the inside. It can feel like a curse to feel like an outsider in both the country you were born in or the one your parents come from. For Rachel, those feelings ultimately become a strength instead of a perceived weakness. Her choice to be proud of her immigrant roots in the face of Eleanor’s shaming becomes an emotional affirmation for others like her. 

[7] Castillo, Monica. “Crazy Rich Asians Movie Review (2018): Roger Ebert.” Movie Review (2018) | Roger Ebert, 15 Aug. 2018. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crazy-rich-asians-2018. 

8. As much as this is a love story, “Crazy Rich Asians” is about powerful women at its center. We catch a glimpse of some of the anti-Asian discrimination Eleanor faced back when Nick was a child and how she wields wealth like a weapon against enemies and intruders. In the case of Astrid (Gemma Chan), one of Nick’s cousins, she later uses her financial standing in an empowering moment against her husband. For these women, wealth allows them to fight for themselves. 

[8] Castillo, Monica. “Crazy Rich Asians Movie Review (2018): Roger Ebert.” Movie Review (2018) | Roger Ebert, 15 Aug. 2018. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crazy-rich-asians-2018. 

9. I left “Crazy Rich Asians” beaming, not because of the film’s wild parties with synchronized swimmers or the over-the-top wedding of Nick’s best friend, but because of how much love is in the movie between a mother and a daughter, couples and among friends and family. To see an American audience identify with the Hypen-American experience - my experience and that of Rachel’s - felt rewarding on an entirely different level. I was glad to identify with the struggles of juggling parents’ approval with feelings for a partner. I may not share the financial or cultural background of the characters, but I felt invited to celebrate in the emotions on-screen and those around me. 

[9] Castillo, Monica. “Crazy Rich Asians Movie Review (2018): Roger Ebert.” Movie Review (2018) | Roger Ebert, 15 Aug. 2018. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crazy-rich-asians-2018.