Crazy Rich Asians Review
Whew, an actual good movie for once.
This is gonna be a quick review. Crazy Rich Asians looked to me like a typical rom-com with a name that's anything but typical. I approved of its main goal: to give Asian actors central representation in a mainstream Hollywood production. But other than that very admirable aspect, the film looked kinda boring to me. It didn't look like it had the intention of setting itself apart from every other rom-com that is brought to theaters in this decade. Most of these films look so bland and honestly kinda terrible, so I generally skip them. But inevitably, with all of the acclaim that this particular film has recieved, I had to watch it and weigh in on how I liked it. And I gotta say, despite my general perception of them, this is an exceptional entry in the rom-com genre. Hollywood, make more like this one. Don't make more like the ones that are dumped onto Netflix every weekend.
One of the main things I enjoyed about this film is that the screenwriters clearly had an idea about how to make films like these work. I don't know about you, but there are two types of romantic movies I don't like: ones that are straight comedies and others that are overly serious. Because, when some jokes inevitably miss in the straight comedies, the movie doesn't work as well and becomes boring as more and more jokes miss. And when it's overly serious, it becomes so sappy and so preposterous that it transforms into comedy gold. Any film that resembles either of these methods will not click with me and will almost always be a miss in my eyes. To make the most believable version of one these films, at least for me, you need to have a healthy balance of both to make it work. Dramedies work very well. That's why some of the romantic movies I enjoy the most include La La Land, Forrest Gump, and (hear me out) Scott Pilgrim. These films make sure to add a healthy balance of drama, comedy, and/or action. The ending of La La Land will always have a bigger impact for me than Titanic's ever will, despite the fact that Titanic's ending is definitely more "tragic". That's because La La Land refused to overwhelm with non-stop jokes, overly sappy drama, or even music. It felt more genuine. Anyways, back to Crazy Rich Asians; this one might be up there for me, honestly. It was funny without being overwhelming. It had drama without being overly sappy. Thus, when some of the jokes wouldn't hit or when the film would get a little sappy, it didn't spell doom for this film. The two tones complemented each other, as they should. It was a sweet mixture of both that really clicked with me more than most others in the genre. It all made for a surprisingly engaging and even nuanced story that feels relatable.
It also really helps to have good performances in a movie like this, in which it does for the most part. You've got the comedic actors who did well, specifically Awkwafina and Ken Jeong. Awkwafina should be in a lot more comedies; she was easily the best character in Oceans 8 and she was one of the best in this film too. There were some good performances in the dramatic side too, specifically from Michelle Yeoh and Gemma Chan. The weakest performance in the film was unfortunately from the male lead, Henry Golding. Listen, he seems to be a newcomer and he's not terrible in any way. But when the secondary cast shines astoundingly more than the male lead, who is honestly boring in comparison, there's seems to be a bit of a problem. Fortunately, he's not the central character of the story; he's just the male lead. There's one person in the cast I haven't mentioned yet, because she delivers not only my favorite performance in this movie but also one of my favorites of the year, maybe even my favorite performance of a lead actress: Constance Wu. Hollywood, you better take this movie into consideration about why you should cast Constance Wu more. For the longest time, I watched the ABC show, Fresh of the Boat, in which she plays the mom. I've started to watch it again after watching Crazy Rich Asians, because she is such a great actress. She puts everyone else's performances to shame in both productions. I think she got robbed of a Golden Globe, in a world that anyone care about the Golden Globes.
Sadly enough, there are issues. Especially when considering the film's genre, it's overlong. I don't think there were pacing issues; it was just simply too long. The movie should've been like ten minutes shorter, because pace reworking wouldn't have helped this film. Remember, just because a movie is shorter, doesn't mean it's inferior (my favorite movie is about 100 minutes long). Also, like I said, the jokes don't always work. Most of them do, but at same time, there are a bunch of them that don't work. The way to fix that would simply be writing better jokes. I mean, that's about all I have to talk about. It was a fun movie with a surprising amount of dramatic depth and I recommend for those looking for movie that's simply enjoyable.
SCORE: 8/10
It was a pleasant surprise from a genre that I generally stray away from and I sincerely recommend that you check it out.
Also, sorry this review isn't up to my standards. I kept losing time to complete this review to the point that I didn't particularly care anymore and just wanted to get the thing finished.
One of the main things I enjoyed about this film is that the screenwriters clearly had an idea about how to make films like these work. I don't know about you, but there are two types of romantic movies I don't like: ones that are straight comedies and others that are overly serious. Because, when some jokes inevitably miss in the straight comedies, the movie doesn't work as well and becomes boring as more and more jokes miss. And when it's overly serious, it becomes so sappy and so preposterous that it transforms into comedy gold. Any film that resembles either of these methods will not click with me and will almost always be a miss in my eyes. To make the most believable version of one these films, at least for me, you need to have a healthy balance of both to make it work. Dramedies work very well. That's why some of the romantic movies I enjoy the most include La La Land, Forrest Gump, and (hear me out) Scott Pilgrim. These films make sure to add a healthy balance of drama, comedy, and/or action. The ending of La La Land will always have a bigger impact for me than Titanic's ever will, despite the fact that Titanic's ending is definitely more "tragic". That's because La La Land refused to overwhelm with non-stop jokes, overly sappy drama, or even music. It felt more genuine. Anyways, back to Crazy Rich Asians; this one might be up there for me, honestly. It was funny without being overwhelming. It had drama without being overly sappy. Thus, when some of the jokes wouldn't hit or when the film would get a little sappy, it didn't spell doom for this film. The two tones complemented each other, as they should. It was a sweet mixture of both that really clicked with me more than most others in the genre. It all made for a surprisingly engaging and even nuanced story that feels relatable.
It also really helps to have good performances in a movie like this, in which it does for the most part. You've got the comedic actors who did well, specifically Awkwafina and Ken Jeong. Awkwafina should be in a lot more comedies; she was easily the best character in Oceans 8 and she was one of the best in this film too. There were some good performances in the dramatic side too, specifically from Michelle Yeoh and Gemma Chan. The weakest performance in the film was unfortunately from the male lead, Henry Golding. Listen, he seems to be a newcomer and he's not terrible in any way. But when the secondary cast shines astoundingly more than the male lead, who is honestly boring in comparison, there's seems to be a bit of a problem. Fortunately, he's not the central character of the story; he's just the male lead. There's one person in the cast I haven't mentioned yet, because she delivers not only my favorite performance in this movie but also one of my favorites of the year, maybe even my favorite performance of a lead actress: Constance Wu. Hollywood, you better take this movie into consideration about why you should cast Constance Wu more. For the longest time, I watched the ABC show, Fresh of the Boat, in which she plays the mom. I've started to watch it again after watching Crazy Rich Asians, because she is such a great actress. She puts everyone else's performances to shame in both productions. I think she got robbed of a Golden Globe, in a world that anyone care about the Golden Globes.
Sadly enough, there are issues. Especially when considering the film's genre, it's overlong. I don't think there were pacing issues; it was just simply too long. The movie should've been like ten minutes shorter, because pace reworking wouldn't have helped this film. Remember, just because a movie is shorter, doesn't mean it's inferior (my favorite movie is about 100 minutes long). Also, like I said, the jokes don't always work. Most of them do, but at same time, there are a bunch of them that don't work. The way to fix that would simply be writing better jokes. I mean, that's about all I have to talk about. It was a fun movie with a surprising amount of dramatic depth and I recommend for those looking for movie that's simply enjoyable.
SCORE: 8/10
It was a pleasant surprise from a genre that I generally stray away from and I sincerely recommend that you check it out.
Also, sorry this review isn't up to my standards. I kept losing time to complete this review to the point that I didn't particularly care anymore and just wanted to get the thing finished.
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