dex14

Opens today.

I think WB is going to have another movie that blows away estimates this week.

Defiant1

I saw it last night and it was really good. It's funny, well-acted across the board but also has heart. There are unique cultural quirks in it that non-East Asians may not get, but it's not alienating at all.

As someone of Asian background, it was the first time I've ever seen a Hollywood movie set in the present day filled with people who look like me in a movie theatre. It was quite moving and powerful to finally see a version of myself as fully fledged characters with hopes, desires, and conflicts and not just a token minority. I hope this movie makes a ton of money to show the execs that there is room for all kinds of stories, not just the ones we have gotten in the past.

Giantrobo

morriscroy

Good movie.

In spite of not being asian myself, I've seen aspects of this when I was previously married to a person who grew up and came of age in Hong Kong.

More generally, I've seen similar family dynamics when it comes to jewish/israeli families. (Most of my family was originally from israel and germany). Especially when there's great disparities in wealth, and differences in background (ie. growing up in america in comparison to growing up in israel, etc ....).

dex14

Saw it today. I liked it. It was a little long and predictable but better than typical romcoms. Constance Wu is cute.

Jian Yang!

dex14

Is this film not opening in Asia?

B5Erik

It's funny, but since I've got a fairly large Asian movie collection (about 50 movies) I wouldn't think twice about Asians in movies.

Well, except The Meg. That lead actress was pretty darned attractive so I thought more than twice about her...

Defiant1

It will be released in most East Asian countries this week. Japan's release isn't until late September. The notable exception to all this of course is China.

http://fortune.com/2018/08/17/crazy-...-china-market/

It looks like WB is still negotiating for a China release. Ironically despite an all-Asian cast, this movie may not play well over there since these kinds of romcoms are a dime-a-dozen over there and an all-Asian cast is not a novelty in China the way it is here.

dex14

Interesting. Thanks.

PatD

With the success of this and Black Panther, it might send a signal to Hollywood that there are other demographics of movie goers that don't have white skin...I can't even say that with a straight face...of course they're not going to learn.

Decker

Just saw it. Wasn't that crazy about it actually. Some stuff I liked - Constance Wu is a STAR. The guy who played her boyfriend was handsome but bland. Akwafina is having a hell of a Summer and she's great here as well.
Lot of the other stuff didn't sit well with me. The Bachelorette Party in particular was a shrill, annoying, completely unbelievable Hollywood screenwriter creation (and the groom to be can never sneak away from his own bachelor party either). There were a LOT of soap-opera stuff there. I thought the movie had tone issues where it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a campy comedy (like Muriel's Wedding), a sweet Rom-com (like My Best Friend's Wedding) or a wedding drama (like Rachel Getting Married). I'm not saying it was wrong to go for different beats, just that I don't think it meshed well, and I wasn't sure how serious we were supposed to take it.

Also some of the conspicuous wealth-porn felt a little like a sexless, kink-less version of 50 Shades. Especially the ingenue who has NO IDEA that her boyfriend is rich and famous -- even more so in this case where they were supposed to be dating for a year, yet when they go to a COFFEE SHOP for God's sake, they're spotted, recognized and (in a truly nauseating montage), immediately broadcast over the world via social media. Was that like the first time they'd ever been outside of their apartment?

And do College Econ 101 classes now involve watching the professor play Texas Hold Em for an hour? Because that sounds way more fun and less educational than the crap I sat through.

fujishig

Haven't seen it yet, so I've failed my demographic. But I'm not Chinese/Singaporean, so I don't feel as bad.

I'm sure we all assumed it, but this interview verifies it:

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/20/63896...hor-kevin-kwan

Brian T

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Author Kevin Kwan Wanted for Draft Dodging

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/c...ng-1202913534/

E Unit

In Singapore? Yikes, better stay here pal - unless Trump kicks your ass out.

Brian T

Yeah, for all it's charms as displayed in the movie, Singapore's still a pretty authoritarian place. It's worked wonders for them -- poverty to opulence in a generation, etc. -- and many countries in or near areas of potential conflict have mandatory service, but they do take things a bit far sometimes, at least by western standards. Like no chewing gum in public, etc.

hdnmickey

I wouldn't call it draft dodging and I have a co-worker from Singapore that will never go back home for the same reason.

fujishig

How do you deny someone who wants to revoke citizenship? I can understand if they wanted to keep citizenship, their requirement to enlist in the army should stand (and I have some Korean friends who were in that boat) but if he had dual citizenship, he should be able to just remain a US citizen.

dex14

This seems to be doing pretty well at the weekday BO.

Ash Ketchum

Not a great movie, but an interesting and highly watchable one. Corny and melodramatic, but it's nice to see an Asian cast pulling off all the clichés for once. If it was a white cast, I'd steer clear of this--all that wedding porn and luxury porn are too much for me--but the Singapore setting gives it a different feel. Plus it was great to see two of my faves from two distinct periods of movie history working together--Michelle Yeoh and Lisa Lu.

(Yeoh's in the green, Lu's in the shawl.)


For me, the breakout star of this is Awkwafina, whom I've never seen before. She's very funny and easily steals the film. I would love to see a series of comedies built around that character or a similar one. She definitely needs to star in her own movies.

Decker

You should watch Ocean's 8. A fun caper flick and she's great in it.


One thing I thought of after watching this movie : They totally Yada-Yada'd away Nick Young's father. The patriarch of this massively huge and successful company. Nick says he went away on business -- and that's it? I was waiting for him to come back and he never does. Nick proposes without his dad meeting Rachel? Hell, he rents out THE ENTIRE SKY PARK OBSERVATION DECK before his dad can come back from his meeting? That seems like a waste -- and wasn't Rachel holed up at her friend's house for over a week? How long could the dad possibly be gone for? I bet he was having an affair as well.

RichC2

She has a semi-successful classy rap career too.



She makes me laugh, she's been doing a ton of TV for the last 3 years or so.

Perkinsun Dzees

She's being heavily bashed by the African American community (and some Asians) for misappropriating their culture and doing what they say amounts to a caricature of the Black comedic sidekick -- essentially being the Jar Jar Binks of Crazy Rich Asians.

I can see their point, though I still find her funny.

I find Awkwafina's character in Crazy rich Asians very problematic. If a Black person put on a fake Chinese accent and portrayed Chinese culture in a caricature-like way, do you think it would be as well received? Let's examine that pic.twitter.com/PzaGRqQZWK

— Bitch imma cow (@Alkalined87) August 15, 2018

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

RichC2

Strong argument.


for me staying off twitter.

DJariya

I don't get the issue. I interpreted her character as a millennial who grew up in the States and went to school here and grew up on the Hip Hop culture & probably has friends from that culture. Big freaking deal. I've been to Asia many times and the hip hop culture is very big in some communities in Asia.

Stupid people always have to create issues out of nothing.

Decker

Agree 100%.

My 17 year old daughter is always getting wrapped up in some more-PC-than-thou Twitter outrage and writing people off entirely for the most minor of infractions (Bill Maher, Nikki Manaj). I'm sure she'll be all over this.