Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu, from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on the 2013 novel of the same title by Kevin Kwan. The film stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh. It follows a Chinese-American professor who travels to meet her boyfriend's family and is surprised to discover they are among the richest in Singapore.
Crazy Rich Asians
Korean American actress Jamie Chung, who had auditioned for a role but was turned down allegedly for not being "ethnically Chinese", responded to Golding's casting with "That is some bullshit. Where do you draw the line to be ethnically conscious?"[149] Chung's remarks were met with both praise and criticism on social media, with some accusing her of being biased against Eurasians and noting that she had previously played ethnic Chinese characters in other works.[150][151] Chung clarified her comments on social media, denying that she was bigoted against multiracial Asians as she would "one day have [her] own hapa babies", prompting further backlash.[150] Chung subsequently apologized to Golding for her comments, which he accepted.[152] She later expressed her support for Crazy Rich Asians, Golding and his castmates, stating that because of them "there will be other projects [...] that will be full Asian casts."[153]
In an interview with Teen Vogue in November 2019, actress Brenda Song, who is of Hmong and Thai descent, stated that she was not permitted to audition for Crazy Rich Asians as, according to Song, her "image was basically not Asian enough, in not so many words". Song stated she felt disappointed by the response, questioning why the filmmakers were "fault[ing] [her] for having worked [her] whole life."[161] This alleged response to Song was met with backlash from Asian Americans online, due to Song having portrayed the "original crazy rich Asian" London Tipton in the 2005 Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.[162] Rachel Chang, writing for Forbes, stated that Song "single-handedly represented Asian Americans to a new generation of a impressionable television viewers."[163] Director Jon M. Chu responded to the comments on Twitter, stating that "it sucks if anything of that nature was ever communicated. It's gross actually". He added that he was a fan of Song's work, and would have cast her in the film without an audition if he knew. He later followed up the tweet with an article about the open casting call held for the film, citing it as one of his favorite memories during production.[162]
Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, commented that the film "represents the worst of Singapore. Erases minorities. Erases the poor and marginalized. All you get are rich, privileged ethnic Chinese."[168] Alfian Sa'at, a Malay Singaporean poet and playwright, commented on the film's title, referring to it as "Crazy Rich EAST Asians", and adding "Does a win for representation mean replacing white people with white people wannabes[?]"[172] Multiple critics also criticized the comedic scene in which the characters Rachel Chu and Peik Lin were frightened by Sikh guards, noting that "the presentation of brown men as scary predators is played for laughs",[173] is "blind to racial politics in Singapore",[174] and presented a "buffoonish performance [that is] as excruciating as Mickey Rooney's as the Japanese photographer living above Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's."[144] However, one commenter noted that the book which the film is based on "is aware of its lack of minority representation [and] actually alludes to the closed minded attitude of some social circles in Singapore. One of the family members got disowned for marrying a Malay."[175]
Eleanor Young is Nick's controlling mother who is obsessed with prestige and pride. Since Nick was born, she has allowed her mother-in-law, the Young family matriarch, to practically raise her only child, so that, when the time comes, she will leave the family fortune to him. As a result, Eleanor is not very involved in Nick's upbringing and is even separated from his father, who chooses to live and work in Australia to manage their family's businesses there. She is also very adamant that Nick marry someone from the close-knit, rich circle of her friends and plans to sabotage Nick and Rachel's relationship. She hires a private detective to gather information on Rachel's family, which she later attempts to use to drive Rachel out of Nick's life, but ultimately results in her son freezing her out of his life. Rachel is shocked when she learns who her father, Zhou Fang Min, is and leaves to stay with her friend Goh Peik Lin and her family.
Edison Cheng is Nick's spoiled Hong Kong cousin who works as a banker. He is one of the few members of his clan who lives up to his birthright as a member of one of the wealthiest families in the world. He wants to impress all his friends and relatives at the wedding, but his plans fall short because of his family, particularly his younger brother Alistair who is dating Kitty Pong, a starlet of questionable background and intentions. Alistair and Kitty are briefly engaged but she leaves him for Bernard Tai, a billionaire's son, after Oliver T'Sien misleads her to believe that the Chengs are not as rich as she thought.
Rachel and Nick suffer a falling out. Nick tries to convince her to stay in the relationship with him, professing that he no longer cares about what society and his family expect from him. Rachel doesn't believe him, claiming that no matter how much they try to ignore his family's legacy, they know they may not be able to. She tells Nick that she wants her children to grow up treasured and loved by their relatives like her own family has done, not raised with a family whose primary concern is their own wealth, family legacy, and the kinds of rich people they know. Rachel breaks up with him as a result and Nick realizes she's lost to him. Depressed, he stays at Colin's house for a while. At the Goh house, Rachel calls her mother, Kerry, and they have a falling out. She demands to know why Kerry didn't tell her about Fang Min being her father. When Kerry tries to explain that he was abusive and she had to save her life, Rachel blames her for her actions and hangs up the phone.
This movie will make you fall in love with romantic comedies again. It's not so much that Crazy Rich Asians' storyline is original as it is well done; it rarely goes for the cliché. Romcoms have a tendency to portray their heroines as somewhat bumbling, not quite having their act together. But that's not Rachel Chu: She's capable, clever, and in control. She may be temporarily thrown off by the unfriendlies in Nick's life, but she never loses her footing. She's a well-drawn, down-to-earth character who isn't so much relatable as aspirational, and Wu plays her to a tee. The other women in the cast are great, too. Yeoh adds depth to the icy mother who sees Rachel as a threat to her family. And as Nick's glamorous cousin Astrid, Gemma Chan gives a meaty performance as her character deals with the complexities of a marriage in which the wife is rich and the husband is not in a traditional male-driven society. But it's Awkwafina who runs away with the show, inspiring peals of laughter as Rachel's college buddy, Goh Peik Lin, who speaks with a Miley Cyrus-type cadence, attitude, and delivery. Every scene with her in it is 10 times funnier, and when Ken Jeong is added to the mix as her father, the duo make a comic combination that leaps off the screen.
Jane Austen, or maybe Edith Wharton, goes to Singapore, turning in this lively, entertaining novel of manners. You've got to like any novel set in Asia that includes, among many splendid one-liners, this amah's admonition: "Don't you know there are children starving in America?" Of varying ethnicities but resolutely members of the 1 percent or aspiring, one way or another, to be so, Kwan's characters are urban sophisticates par excellence, many of them familiar with the poshest districts of London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong. Many of them are also adrift, with soulless consumerism replacing society: It's Less Than Zero without all the coke. When socialite Astrid, for instance, is in a mood, as she so often is, she goes shopping in boutiques haunted by "the wives of Persian Gulf sheikhs, Malay sultans, and the Indonesian Chinese oligarchs." Not half-bad company, but then Astrid moves in a rarefied circle around the richest of the rich. At its center is 32-year-old Nicholas Young, whose ABC girlfriend--American-born Chinese, that is--Rachel Chu, has come to Singapore to meet the family. To Nick's credit, she is taken aback by just how phenomenally wealthy they are. "It's like any big family," Nick assures her. "I have loudmouth uncles, eccentric aunts, obnoxious cousins, the whole nine yards." Well, and then some. Rachel discovers that the position of being Nick's intended isn't an easy one--not only are there other would-be plutocrats gunning for the spot, but the family also doesn't make things easy, either. A diverse set of characters and a light, unstrained touch move Kwan's story along. Yet, even though one feels for Rachel, there's a point--right about at the spot where one of her new girlfriends is showing off the yoga studio inside daddy's new jet--that one gets the feeling that Ho Chi Minh might have had a point after all. An elegant comedy and an auspicious debut. 041b061a72