This is one over the top, flashy flick. It took 25 years for a major studio to produce a film with an almost all Asian cast. And this rom-com is so big and ostentatious, it looks like it cost more than the $30 million to make. It’s filled with creative reveals of opulent sets, fashionista worthy clothes, and exclusive parties with what appears to be a cast of thousands against the sleek and breathtaking city of Singapore. Cinematographer Vanja Cernjul (TV’s The Deuce, Marco Polo, Orange is the New Black) captures the richness of the locations.
This film is kind of a cross between Big Fat Greek Wedding and Meet the Parents adding more weird relatives, friends, jealous socialites, plus a viper of a prospective mother-in-law.
Director Jon M. Chu (Now You See Me 2, soon NYSM#3 and the film version of Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights) wanted this film to make its mark so Hollywood would open up to making more films with Asians in lead roles, if not the whole cast. Chu has several scripts waiting in the wings if this one takes off.
The Director does a good job with this one. He combed the globe looking for Asian actors and even-non actors by putting a personal casting call up on You Tube. He got thousands of auditions. They came from all over the globe and, as a result, Chu has a very diverse cast with Asian backgrounds.
Chinese American, Constance Wu, almost couldn’t make it in the lead role because of the schedule for her TV series, Fresh Off the Boat. is convincing as the young, smart ingenue, Rachel Chu, the NYU Professor of Economics. She won the heart of fellow NYU student, handsome hunk Nick she’s been dating for about a year.
Chu cast Henry Golding who wants to take Rachel with him to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding and to meet his family. It’s a little silly how they could be dating that long and her not to know how rich his family is or anything about them. But that’s the story. It’s based on the best selling novels by Kevin Kwan.
Golding wasn’t an actor, per se. He was working as a travel host for the BBC and Disney travel. Chu got some flack for casting Golding, who is half Malaysian, half British. Even his leading lady made it known she wasn’t happy, at first, about not having a leading man who was pure Asian. She not only got over it, but apologized for it in a Tweet.
Michelle Yeoh (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2, TV series Star Trek: Discovery) shows plenty of attitude as the icy prospective Mother-in-law. She is gorgeous, even when cold and angry.
But rapper Awkwafina, (Oceans 8) playing Rachel’s best friend, Peik LinGoh, helps melt Rachel’s misgivings and the icy attitudes she encounters, with friendship and humor. Awkwafina adds awkward fun for support, and is the most human of the bunch.
Talk about awkward. Ken Jeong is a talented comedian, but is totally underused in this film. Even though he only shot a few scenes in a few days, Chu could have used him to better effect.
Nico Santos (TV’s Superstore), as Oliver, says he gets to basically play himself in the film as “snarky, fashionable and gay.” He’s the voice of reason for Rachel and is particularly in his element with Awkwafina in the scene where Rachel is trying on gown after gown to impress at Nick’s best-friend’s wedding.
The side story of Nick’s sister, Astrid, and the problems of her being too rich for her commoner husband are more of a distraction. Astrid is played by the drop-dead-gorgeous, Gemma Chan ( TV’s Humans, Transformers: The Last Knight). Some say you can never be too rich or too thin, but her story shows that neither can buy happiness.
There are scenes showing heartwarming Asian traditions, like the whole family making dumplings together which reminded us of the recent Pixar animated short Bao. Fortunately, some of the outdated stereotypes are taken down as well. And Tan Kheng Hua, who plays Rachel’s level headed mother, is the classy mother from America who is somewhat like the classy mother of Megan Markle when she married Prince William. Only in this film, Rachel is in love with a Real Estate magnate’s prince. We never get a sense of Nick’s father who is off on business for the whole film.
It’s entertaining to hear pop songs in Chinese and English like the Beatles’ “Money.” This is almost like a musical in parts and the choreography shot from overhead showing everycdy dancing the same steps at the same time at the big party is case in point. The script, written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, gets silly here and there, and sappy toward the end. You know what’s going to happen. But good for Chu for making his dream come true. With all the colorful characters and so much eye candy, this film is more than palatable.
Warner Bros. 2 hours
