Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

My Rating :  9/10

The Crazy in the film title is referring to Rich and not to Asians, although I thought, at times that the movie was going to slip into an Asian Hangover movie. But the director smartly avoided the temptation to go for slapstick laughs, and concentrated on the plot in this light rom-com, with an all Asian cast, that worked for me.

In order to appeal to the American audience the characters spoke mostly English, but did celebrate Chinese culture by looking at the food, culture and lifestyle of the Singapore super-rich. The music was really well done, playing American music sung in Chinese (except for Fools Rush In at the wedding which was done in English). Coldplay's Yellow was especially effective as a closer.

The poor girl not worthy of the rich boy theme has been used before in movies like Coming to America (1988), My Fair Lady (1964) and Pretty in Pink (1986). The movie was predictable; you knew Rachel and Nick would end up together; but that's OK in a 2018  romantic comedy. Maybe we need something to fell good about.

One part I did find interesting was how Rachel used her game theory (and mahjong) skills to win over her future mother-in-law.

There was nothing ground breaking in this movie, except the use of an all-Asian cast in a movie created for the American market. Hollywood could have, and I am sure did consider, changed the screen play based on Kevin Kwan's book, so they had a white starlet in the lead. But thankfully, someone made a good decision.

It was also refreshing to see such a strong female cast take charge of the movie.

Overall, much better than I expected.