2018 might be the year that Hollywood finally figured out that representation is a great way to get overlooked audiences into the cinema, but they're not putting the big money into risky projects just yet. Much like this year's earlier big breakthrough Black Panther, this is about as solidly traditional an example of its chosen genre - in this case, the romantic-comedy - as you could ask for. But where Black Panther's superhero audience had another four or five films to choose from this year alone, if you're a fan of big lavish rom-coms featuring grown-ups this is pretty much it for 2018. And 2017. And 2016. And as far back as it takes until the last one of those Judd Apatow comedies that pretty much trashed the genre.
So this is really aimed at two under-served markets, but only one gets anything original: this is the first Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast since The Joy Luck Club, and the total sidelining of any kind of white western experience is easily the most interesting thing going on here. The big cast means we get a variety of representation here too: there are plenty of comedy jerks and loud-mouths alongside the more restrained and noble characters, and while one subplot about a doomed marriage doesn't really have much of anything to do with the main story it does add some useful emotional texture to a rom-com which occasionally gets uncomfortably close to just saying "hey, being super rich really is awesome".
(to be fair, director Jon M. Chu does make spending massive amounts of money on everything look like a pretty good time)
The romance side of things is largely built around the classic rom-com trope of not giving either lead any real personality so the audience can project pretty much anything they like onto them. In this case American-born Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is a professor specialising in game theory (as you do) who doesn't realise her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) belongs to an insanely wealthy family until they visit his hometown of Singapore for his best friend's wedding. Nick's personality is "occasionally shirtless nice guy" while she is "cheerful but slightly worried she's in over her head", but Wu and Golding have good chemistry together; they're a fun couple to watch.
This leaves the supporting cast to pick up the slack when it comes to being memorable and again, having a big cast is a definite plus - there's the broad comedy types (Awkwafina as Rachel's bestie steals just about every scene she's in), the serious confidants, the sneaky bitches, and Nick's mother (Michelle Yeoh), who is the real obstacle as far as their happily ever after goes.
These days rom-coms live or die by the obstacles they can throw up in the lovers path, and she's an excellent one: having been constantly judged as inferior by her own mother-in-law, she's fully aware of the sacrifices any wife of her son will have to make to fit into the family and their world, and she simply (and with some justification) doesn't think a westerner will give up their freedom for the family's greater good.
It's this that makes Crazy Rich Asians more than just a slightly unsettling celebration of excess. After all, for all this is lauded as being ground-breaking, the core message is about as old Hollywood as it gets: money can't buy happiness.. Their great wealth comes with responsibilities that seem inconceivable in today's west; it's possible to imagine a billionaire US matriarch giving a possible daughter-in-law the cold shoulder in 2018, but not in a way that would gain her much sympathy.
But here her argument is, at the very least, reasonable - and so when Rachel has to step up and fight for her love, it's a real battle. It's that culture clash, coming in a film that treats both cultures with respect, that gives the romance some grit. And it's that as much as the shirtless guys and fancy weddings that makes this film work: a love story without a struggle isn't much of a love story at all.
- Anthony Morris
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