Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh
Director: Jon M. Chu
Run Time: 2 hours
Rating: PG
Rating: ★★★★
The romantic-comedy takes some large risks that pay off, but also gets some aspects of Singaporean culture totally wrong.
When I was in Singapore over the summer visiting family, excitement and exuberant national pride were sweeping the tiny island nation. We were coming off a high after the Trump-Kim summit shined a spotlight on the country and were eagerly awaiting the release of Crazy Rich Asians to catapult us once again onto the world stage. It may sound that I am painting my fellow Singaporeans as vain, egotistical people, but after constantly hearing the same old “What part of China is Singapore in?” from Westerners, Singaporeans should rightfully feel proud of their country has become somewhat less obscure.
I, along with countless other Singaporeans, had lofty expectations for Crazy Rich Asians, a movie based on the book of the same name written by Kevin Kwan, a Singaporean-American author. The satirical novel, which received critical acclaim upon its release in 2013, interweaves the stories of different members of the Young family, an ultra-rich Singaporean clan.
The primary plot line focuses on Nicholas Young (Henry Golding), the heir to the family fortune. Nicholas invites his middle-class ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. When rumour spreads that Nicholas may propose to Rachel, Nicholas’s mother and grandmother try to intervene and halt the marriage, fearing that Rachel’s modest background would severely tarnish the family name.
The secondary storyline centres upon Nicholas’s cousin, Astrid Teo (Gemma Chan), and her husband, Michael Teo (Pierre Png). Like Rachel, Michael was born into a middle-class family. After a few years of marriage, their relationship becomes strained because Michael can no longer tolerate the pressure of associating with a family that is as lavish and traditional as the Youngs. Their plot line follows the demise of their relationship and Astrid’s discovery of Michael’s affair with a woman in China.
After watching countless stereotypical Asian characters in Hollywood movies and just as many Asian stories brutally botched by Westerners (I’m looking at you The King and I), it is with great relief and immense pride to say that Hollywood’s adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians is a sheer delight. Director Jon M. Chu’s bold and dizzying production goes along with the absurdity of the story and is generally faithful to the original novel, albeit slightly trimmed down.
Although the movie is your typical “guy meets girl but family disapproves” kind of story, Crazy Rich Asians feels like a breath of fresh air in Hollywood. Vanja Cernjul’s stunning cinematography, Brian Tyler’s east meets west musical palate, and a fast-moving, roller coaster screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, make this feel like a traditional Chinese soap opera — a guilty pleasure for many ah ma’s in Singapore — rather than your traditional romantic comedy.
While Chu’s production is absolutely hilarious, he is careful not to create stereotypical characters. All the main and supporting characters are fully fleshed out and have a story arch. The character of Eleanor Young, Nicholas’s mother, is particularly well crafted in the movie. Originally written as a purely evil character in the novel, who cares solely about her wealth, status, and gossip-filled bible study sessions, the character in the movie is much more layered. While Eleanor is terrified that letting Rachel enter the family would ruin the family name, she is also afraid that, like many Westerners, her son is seeking immediate self-fulfilment, rather than thinking of the consequences of his actions. Her actions are justified more out of her love for her son and misunderstanding of Rachel’s background, than her own self-interest.
Although this change elevated the story to a new level, other changes left me scratching my head. While not everything from Kwan’s long novel can fit into a two hour movie, Astrid and Michael’s deteriorating relationship served as a great antithesis to Rachel and Nicholas’ blossoming romance. The movie only glazed over that story arch in two scenes, leaving many loose ends.
As Eleanor, Michelle Yeoh definitely gives the best performance of the cast and pulls every morsel out of her meaty role. Constance Wu also gives a wonderful performance as Rachel and successfully brings out the change in character from a naive fish out of water American girl to a more confident woman who stands up for herself. In the supporting cast, rapper Awkwafina gives a hoot of a performance as Rachel’s brassy Singaporean friend, and Gemma Chan makes the most of her scaled down role as Astrid. Unfortunately, leading man Henry Golding is the weakest link in the cast. Previously a television host for travel documentaries, Golding gives a stiff performance as Nicholas, the Prince Charming of the show.
Warner Bros. Productions should be commended for casting an all Asian cast; it gave me a smile seeing some highly respected local actors finally get their big break after working for decades in the tiny Singaporean/Malaysian television industry. However, the film does not steer clear of westernization. Most notably, the infamous Singlish accent was watered down for an American audience. Singaporean actor Pierre Png, who plays Astrid’s middle-class husband Michael, was speaking a “simplified Singlish” that was so butchered that it sounded like a Korean accent.
In addition, Warner Bros. seems to believe that all Asian cultures can be assimilated into one. In a move to appeal to a global Chinese audience, Chu added on a dumpling scene that was absent in the novel. In the scene, the Young family gathered together to create dumplings and, according to Eleanor, “pass on a family tradition”. Typically a tradition among families in China, you would rarely find a Chinese-Singaporean family making dumpling because the dumpling-making tradition is not a part of Chinese-Southeast Asian culture.
In contrast, Kevin Kwan never intended to make his novel a commercial success and appeal to a wide global audience. He was writing a love letter to his homeland — filled with Hokkien profanity, nyonya kueh (colourful bite-sized desserts), and old nosey aunties. This unabashed presentation of Singaporean culture, which was what I loved about the book, was severely watered-down in the movie.
Despite my qualms, Hollywood did a fine job with its first film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years. But, the industry must not stop here. If westerners only get a glimpse at Asian culture through a film that barely scratches the surface of Singaporean culture (not every Singaporean lives like the Youngs), many westerners will be left with the impression that all Asians are crazy rich, dumpling-making elites with weird English accents. So here’s to hoping that it doesn’t take another 25 years before we get another truthful film that makes another Asian community proud.
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