Movie Review: Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians was just downright charming.

It wasn't a perfect movie - the film had a general predictability in terms of setup, story, and structure, the first half was particularly meandering, and some of the subplots weren't developed quite enough - but as a romantic comedy, it was perfectly entertaining. The old fashioned rom-com tropes mixed with a modern theme of cultural identity and specificity was interesting, the production design felt lavish and extravagant, the locations were beautiful, and the cast was fantastic. Michelle Yeoh was incredibly intimidating and withering, Henry Golding was terrific for a newbie, and Awkwafina almost stole the show as she added a nice amount of levity to the film. Constance Wu was a bit hammy at times, but absolutely effective on her more serious and vulnerable scenes.

True, Crazy Rich Asians was quite monumental as it was Hollywood's first exclusively (East) Asian cast in a long time (at least in a big studio mainstream movie), but I actually enjoyed it not because of what it stands for on a social level, but because it was a completely harmless and totally delightful film.

The film had one of the most fabulously gorgeous weddings I've seen in a mainstream movie and that alone deserved the additional half star. Haha.