Years ago, for my 40th birthday, my husband booked me and all of my friends. a special showing of the romantic comedy My Best Friends Wedding.
If you haven't seen it....it's a lovely film
I've just seen the 2018 equivalent, namely the recent American hit, Crazy Rich Asians.
Set amongst the super rich Chinese of Singapore we follow proud self made American Chinese academic Rachel Chu ( Constance Wu) as she visits her boyfriend's family during a friend's wedding. Her boyfriend ( The impossibly handsome Henry Golding) is part of the most elite and traditional of Chinese families and as the various over-the-top Chinese characters assemble for the celebrations Rachel is faced with impressing a disapproving family matriarch in the graceful ice cold shape of Michelle Yeoh.
Nothing new here, except that the cast is exclusively Asian ( or in Golding's case part Asian) a fact which seems to have taken the states strangely by storm even though at least 5 cast members speak with pure English accents). Crazy Rich Asians is not particularly original, it's a rom com directly taken from all of those flicks we remember from thirty years ago and although at times quite sweet and amusing , it certainly doesn't challenge Julia Robert's " Best Friend's doe eyed Julianne.
Michelle Yeoh excels in the Meryl Streep role, Constance Wu is adequate in the lead but for me the film is almost stolen by serene Brit Gemma Chan who crops up in a lumpy sub plot about a Rich relative dealing with her husband's infidelity.
I'm sure the movie has something to say about Chinese tradition versus the American Way....but for me, it is just an old fashioned comedy that has been given a twist that isn't quite as funny as it wants to be
7/10
If you haven't seen it....it's a lovely film
I've just seen the 2018 equivalent, namely the recent American hit, Crazy Rich Asians.
Henry Golding swoon
Set amongst the super rich Chinese of Singapore we follow proud self made American Chinese academic Rachel Chu ( Constance Wu) as she visits her boyfriend's family during a friend's wedding. Her boyfriend ( The impossibly handsome Henry Golding) is part of the most elite and traditional of Chinese families and as the various over-the-top Chinese characters assemble for the celebrations Rachel is faced with impressing a disapproving family matriarch in the graceful ice cold shape of Michelle Yeoh.
Nothing new here, except that the cast is exclusively Asian ( or in Golding's case part Asian) a fact which seems to have taken the states strangely by storm even though at least 5 cast members speak with pure English accents). Crazy Rich Asians is not particularly original, it's a rom com directly taken from all of those flicks we remember from thirty years ago and although at times quite sweet and amusing , it certainly doesn't challenge Julia Robert's " Best Friend's doe eyed Julianne.
Gemma Chan
I'm sure the movie has something to say about Chinese tradition versus the American Way....but for me, it is just an old fashioned comedy that has been given a twist that isn't quite as funny as it wants to be
7/10
I was the only person in the cinema
I listened to a radio talk about this movie . The MahJong game had a lot of meaning in the placement of who sat where and in the end who really won.
ReplyDeleteI used to play MahJong with a group of friends, it is interesting.
cheers, parsnip and badger
Earlier today on Radio 5Live, Mark Kermode said he really rated this film. His judgement is usually spot on but it doesn't sound like my cup of tea. I think I'll give it a miss.
ReplyDeleteMy Rare One and I really enjoyed this movie. The lifestyle depicted is over the top and a bit tiresome after a while, but the basic plotline is good (if a bit cliched, as you point out).
ReplyDeleteThis movie will not get me to the movie theatre.. .Infact no movie has gotten me to the theatre in a while.. Now that one with Jack Black and the Clock in the Wall might just get me there.. Im a fantasy lover and sci fi and thriller.. with the occasional rom com thrown in .. But an all Asian cast is not gonna get me there.. And no i'm not racist i just don't find it appealing enough to spend my money..
ReplyDeleteIt's worth the price of a ticket
DeleteThis film has gotten BIG press over here. I'm keen to see it as I imagine the set design and costuming will be fab. Henry Golding is easy on the eyes as well. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's not subtle
DeleteI enjoyed In the Mood for Love - Maggie Cheung was mesmerising and The Joy Luck Club, so this sounds right up my street.
ReplyDeleteAs a person with real crazy rich Asians in her family, I will not be seeing the movie as it will remind me of those annoying people!
ReplyDeleteBahaha! Being married into a Chinese family means I'm curious to see if my view is validated by the film
DeleteHaha!
DeleteI don't know about the movie, haven't seen it but I enjoyed the book so much. It was fun, not deep but a wonderful, fun read.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a big waste of time. Yes, Henry Golding was especially handsome, but his acting skills were mainly shown in smiling and taking off his shirt. The story was Cinderella, and Cinderella and her shoes is not what we want to teach our daughters today. No one showed any depth or were they interesting. I laughed twice at two lines, but there was more animation in waking my Retired Man than there was on the screen.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping the movie would be better since I paid $8.00 just for the popcorn.
My hubbie and I enjoyed it a lot, just because simple rom coms are so hard to come by these days, and real life is hard enough. And it wasn't exactly Cinderella because it was clear that marriage into that family was going to be tough, even if there would be buckets of money; and Rachel was doing just fine thank you, not suffering, with a Ph.D. in economics.
ReplyDeleteThen we read all 3 books. Also fun but movie plot was tidier (if more cliched), and final proposal scene in movie was worth the price of the movie, I thot.
But depth? nooo. Henry Golding, who cares about depth!
I watched the trailer and thought it might be funny.
ReplyDeleteOnly 1 person in the movie house, that's sad.
When my husband and I went to watch "Mamma Mia 2" on a Thursday night in August, there were only 4 of us in the movie house too, but a couple of weeks later when attending another movie I noticed a sign saying "Mamma Mia 2" had sold out.
My wife went to see Mama Mia 2 here in France recently; her experience was similar. The cinema was empty.
DeleteI am looking forward to it. The comments here are great. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI'll be seeing this (hardly a surprise!) despite it getting a lot of only qualified praise. Sounds better than just okay though.
ReplyDeleteDid you do what my granddaughter does when the cinema is quiet and try out lots of different seats? She loves it when its quiet and she's allowed to try sitting wherever she wants (she's 9). She loves the very front row and the very back row and well, most of the rows in between really lol. I don't fancy this one, but I think the clock in the walls looks interesting. I do like Jack Black. x
ReplyDeleteI do it too. Empty cinemas are terrific and usually so in the mornings or afternoons when I go.
DeleteShort and sharp publicity for the movie here. I saw the film publicity photo of Henry and did not think much of him, but the photo you posted, well, smoking hot.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your review of the film. I have not seen it yet, but it has done really well here in the states. I am surprised that you were the only one in the theatre. That has never happened to me before!
ReplyDeleteReally looking forward to this movie coming to our small community theatre. I loved the book.
ReplyDelete