There’s this new movie that’s the talk of the town in Hollywood. A show headlined by minorities that is taking the box office by storm. No, it’s not Black Panther, that was months ago. I’m talking about Crazy Rich Asians, which is collecting critical and box office acclaim. When I last checked, it was at 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s Academy Award winning territory.
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan, it follows the journey of an Asian-American girl, Rachel, who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend and learns that he is basically from an insanely wealthy family.
It may all sound formulaic, but here’s ten things I learnt just by watching this movie:
- It’s not just Bruce Wayne that buys hotels on a whim.
- Chinese music is played everywhere in Singapore where rich people hang out.
- Wearing three-piece suits outdoors in Singapore doesn’t give you heatstroke.
- Comfort-Delgro taxis can afford to pay for product placement, but Singapore Airlines can’t. Now we know which company is making truckloads of money off its customers.
- If you’re going to fire antitank missiles at your bachelor party, it’s best to do it while sailing in international waters.
- Singapore looks best when you’re hovering eight hundred feet in the air at night. I actually first learnt that from Formula One, but it’s a cool reminder.
- Rich people act like wild animals when they don’t have to pay for cheap Asian clothing and jewellery.
- The easily-recognisable heir to the biggest family empire in Singapore somehow won’t get stalked in New York by crazy women who want to get a piece of him.
- SAF captains aren’t real men. Or maybe only those that marry crazy rich women.
- Container ships don’t really exist. They’re just disguises for all the crazy rich parties going on out there.
I’m kidding. The movie was great. I’m also glad that our little island is getting some publicity. And this coming right after the earlier piece of high drama, Crazy Unpredictable Dictators.
Some people nowadays expect movies to be all sorts of things. Social commentaries. Chances for representation and visibility. Thought-provoking and challenging mindsets. Which is why criticism for some movies comes in thick and fast, when they don’t meet what people feel is the standard required for a good movie.
But amidst all of that, these people sometimes forget, the real reason we go to watch movies is because we just want to have a good time. Yes, it’s important to highlight social issues. Yes, it’s important to be a conscience for society. But most of us don’t want to go and be reminded about our problems when we go to a movie. We want to be entertained. We want to leave feeling like, hey, that made my day a bit brighter. If it can be done while addressing real-life issues, great. If it can’t, but it’s still something that’s enjoyable, that’s not too bad.
Crazy Rich Asians falls squarely into that category, for me. It’s just a really fun movie. And some of the criticism of it really sounds silly and petty. Henry Golding is a hapa, or half-Asian, rather than a full Asian? Show glorifies the excesses and decadence of the rich 1%? Movie is formulaic and predictable? Singapore isn’t as nice as the show makes it out to be? There are other Asians in Asia besides Chinese? Stereotypes abound in the movie?
Look, it’s a Hollywood rom-com written and shot primarily for Americans. Let’s not nitpick about small issues. One movie can’t represent the myriad ethnicities and races that abound in the largest continent in the world. And from the dawn of time, people have been fascinated by stories about the rich and powerful. It’s vicarious living. It’s daydreaming. It’s entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with that, if taken in moderate doses along with a healthy dose of reality once we leave the cinema.
And retelling old stories and rehashing old themes has been around for as long as time itself. For a modern take on Romeo and Juliet, see West Side Story. For the cartoon version of Hamlet, go watch The Lion King. There’s very little that’s completely original nowadays. Everything creative that’s done is partially inspired by something else done earlier. Even the greatest fantasy book ever, the Lord of the Rings, was heavily drawn from Nordic mythology. So, for Crazy Rich Asians to stick with the tried and tested Cinderella formula isn’t a bad thing, especially if it’s skillfully done.
As it is, the movie’s already a major triumph in so many ways for the market it’s aimed at. A lot of us Asians living in Asia don’t get this. When Asian-Americans celebrate the movie as a watershed moment, the rest of the world goes “meh” a bit. We don’t see the big deal. Where we come from, we aren’t the minority. We don’t experience racism from non-Asians (we do this among ourselves as Asians, but that’s a different conversation). We don’t struggle to get movie roles in big-budget films made in our part of town. We don’t have to change our names to get a chance to audition. We don’t face “whitewashing” on a regular basis.
So finally, after 25 years, here comes a major Hollywood movie with an all-Asian cast (yes, hapas are Asian too, in my book), and naturally, lots of people are excited. The best thing about this movie? It’s not some angsty, preachy diatribe about how Asians have been marginalised in America. It’s not about how after centuries of colonisation, we’ve now finally gotten back by becoming rich and owning chunks of the rest of the world. It wasn’t a movie made from any chip on our collective shoulders. No, the movie isn’t mean, it isn’t cynical, it isn’t snarky, it isn’t arrogant. It’s just a lot of fun, very quirky, with screwball antics. It pokes fun at ourselves, Asians. Specifically, it pokes fun at rich Asians. More specifically, it pokes fun at the rich Christian Asians in Singapore. A character in the movie actually frowns upon the supposed $40m spent on someone’s wedding, explaining that “We’re Methodists. Our budget is $20m.”
At its core, Crazy Rich Asians is just a heart-warming story about family and love. It shows that you can be rich and still miserable (Astrid’s story). It shows that you can be rich yet humble and grounded (Nick). It shows that you can be rich yet totally messed up (just about everybody else in the movie). Basically, whether you’re rich or poor, it’s pretty much up to you whether you want to be a good person or a jerk. Money just makes it easier to go in whichever direction you choose.
But it’s not just a popcorn flick for a fun date with that special someone. It does weave in commentaries about numerous issues, although these are of course treated lightly and cursorily, as expected for a romcom. There’s the obvious love versus money, personified by Nick’s journey. There’s Asian values vs Western values, epitomised by the movie’s main tension between Eleanor and Rachel. There’s new rich vs old rich, hilariously played to the hilt by the ostentatious family of Peik Lin. There’s shades of misogyny and racism in the undertones and overtones of the various rich men in the extended family. There’s the pointed reminder that rich Asians do the same insane sh*t as rich non-Asians.
In the end, the strength of the movie comes from the stunning visuals and gorgeous palette. Everything looks beautiful, from the amazing costumes and larger-than-life sets, to the fantastic scenery shot in Singapore and Malaysia. The cast is stellar, more than showing that Asians can comfortably headline major movies. There’s Henry Golding performing admirably in his first real acting role. There’s Constance Wu proving that Fresh Off The Boat is not an accidental success. There’s the formidable Michelle Yeoh, a lady who lights up every film she’s been in, even if she doesn’t do as much ass-kicking as she used to. Awkwafina practically steals every scene she appears in, Ken Jeong and Chris Pang are perfectly cast, as is the gorgeous Gemma Chan. Ronnie Chieng and Jimmy O Yang bring their comedic A-game to the movie.
But it’s our Singapore actors who do us really proud, holding their own against this insane international cast. Tan Kheng Hua, Koh Chieng Mun, Selena Tan, Janice Koh, Pierre Png and Fiona Xie did great in this movie, showing that we have as good acting chops in this little island as anywhere else in the crazy rich world out there.
There’s even a classy tribute to the Joy Luck Club, with Lisa Lu playing Nick’s grandmother and matriarch of the Young family. Harry Shum Jr. makes a teasing cameo at the very end, as a setup to the sequel.
Finally, the soundtrack is to die for. From Katherine Ho’s mandarin cover of Coldplay’s Yellow, to Sally Yeh’s famous Canto adaptation of Material Girl. The highlight for me, though, was Kina Grannis’ appearance at the unbelievable wedding scene, singing her cover of Can’t Help Falling In Love.
In the end, this isn’t a powerful social commentary like Black Panther. It isn’t a heavy hitting political drama like Syriana. It doesn’t try to do too much. It really just sets out to have a rolling good time, and in that respect, it does so with aplomb.
I’m not really crazy and I’m certainly nowhere close to being rich, but I’m having a great time being Asian right now.