CRAZY RICH ASIANS

Image Source - IMDb

Archie had been going on and on about wanting to watch Crazy Rich Asians and then I also heard Howie Mandel on America’s Got Talent tell us all how hilarious the movie was and the plan was made. After a delayed release in India, the three of us went to watch the show on a weekday and were pleasantly surprised to see we had company. Now there were 6 heads in the theatre.

The movie is based on a book of the same name penned by Kevin Kwan. It has Michelle Yeoh (of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, Tomorrow Never Dies fame) in it and features an all Asian cast. This is Henry Golding’s (the male protagonist) first film.

PLOT: Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an Economics Professor NYU is dating Nick Young (Henry Golding) unaware of the fact that Nick comes from a crazy-rich family who are real estate tycoons in Singapore. Nick has to travel to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding and decides to take Rachel along and introduce her to his family. Rachel comes to know about Nick’s affluent background and with the help of her Singaporean friend Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina) tries to fit into Nick’s family. Nick’s mother, Eleanor Young (Michelle Yeoh) doesn’t hide her disdain for Rachel. She disapproves of Rachel’s background, economic status and the fact that Rachel has her roots in the US and that she is passionate about her work. To make things worse, Nick’s friends consider her a gold digger. This creates a rift between Rachel and Nick.

Will Nick’s family accept Rachel for who she is? Will Nick and Rachel work things out or will Nick choose to stay back in Singapore and join his family business?

Does the plot sound all too familiar to our Indian audience? Boy takes Girl to meet his rich family. Girl, being from a lower social stratum doesn’t meet their approval.  Girl is shunned by Boy’s family and friends and not to forget the baddie in such storylines- the mother in law.  Spoiler alert for those not familiar with such storylines – Girl then reveals her goodness by some act of benevolence, good wins over the ‘not so good’ , Boy proceeds to cheesy proposal with the blessing of his family. Boy happy, Girl happy.

As the credits rolled at the end, I questioned Archie, “How is this movie a hit? The creator of this age-old formula, our very own Bollywood, too, has stopped churning out such stories”. Archie is ‘Amreeka returned’ and well versed with their way of thinking. She tsked tsked me and said “All this is very novel to them”.  The movie is fully Bollywood ishtyle, complete with songs and Cinderella-esque makeover of the female protagonist because it’s important to look pretty. Who cares that you are a Professor at NYU.

If I were to keep the storyline aside and review the movie for what it is, I’d say the movie is average- a typical rom-com ‘time-pass’ movie. When I watched the trailer of this movie, it reminded me of Monster-in-law, which has a similar storyline. Now, that movie was HILARIOUS. The title is a misnomer. Yes, the movie does involve rich Asians, but I was expecting to see crazy toys and exorbitant splurges especially with a wedding involved in the film. On that front too it was disappointing.

Besides Michelle Yeoh, the other actor you’d recognise is Ken Jeong (Hangover). Sadly, he’s been given the role of a shady father who hits on his daughter’s friend. His role is minor and failed to evoke any laughter from the audience of 6.

Michelle, Constance, Henry and Awkwafina have acted well. However, the story was predictable, the movie not funny enough and sadly there wasn’t any vulgar display of wealth to leave us flabbergasted.

When Rachel is first introduced to Henry’s mother, Eleanor mentions that Henry’s father is out of town on a business trip. I was expecting the father to be the hero of the film (figuratively) by making an appearance towards the end, standing up to his wife and reuniting the lovers. I have been so accustomed to our films where we’ve had our sanskaari Alok Nath follow the righteous path and protect our frail women from harassment. I was wrong!