If you were to strip away the racial and ethnic aspects of Crazy Rich Asians, you’d be left with a pretty standard romantic comedy. But, since I believe that visibility and inclusiveness are important, I would have no desire for anyone to do so for any reason. Yes, it hits all the usual beats at just the right moments, and, as with most rom-coms, its romance is dubious and its comedy is lackluster. But, it manages something that most don’t – to put it as simply as I can – it’s not totally annoying.
Rachel (Constance Wu), an economics professor in New York has just been invited by her hunky boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to a family wedding in Singapore. Rachel has no idea that Nick is the first born in an extremely traditional and mega-wealthy Chinese family. Upon their arrival, all is revealed, and the conflict begins. True to form, Nick’s family doesn’t approve of Rachel, there are a few witty friends (including a gay one), some catty ex-girlfriends, a big, crazy bachelor party, and a right on cue third act break-up and reconciliation. If all that sounds familiar, it should, if you’ve ever seen a romantic comedy before.
The difference is that, while there’s nothing new in the tropes department, it’s at least refreshing in presentation. It’s a good-looking movie, one with thought and foresight put into its staging and camera work. Romantic comedies generally don’t need to be fancy because the built-in audience doesn’t care about what it looks like. If the city girl gets the rugged bachelor, everything’s fine. They want the third act reconciliation to be right on cue and they don’t care what it looks like when it happens. Well, Crazy Rich Asians won’t disappoint in offering what genre fans demand, but it has the bonus of looking great while doing it. That’s worth something.
It’s genuinely funnier than most too. That’s not to say its comedy gold, but it fares much better than anything recent (and not so recent) I can think of. This may be due to its fish out of water premise (I’m a mark for those), but mostly it rests on the fact that its humor isn’t completely idiotic. Crazy Rich Asians knows it’s goofy and revels in it, but it doesn’t insult us with it. There’s not a lot new under the sun, but at least I didn’t feel dumber having watched it – for whatever that’s worth.
All told, this is an above average rom-com in a sea of mostly bad. It doesn’t reinvent any wheels, but it doesn’t crash the car like most of the others. It manages to get where it needs to go without any major assaults on the senses or sensibilities, and there’s even a few decent, earned laughs. High art? Not even close, but you could do much worse without trying very hard.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.