Crazy Rich Asian's: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh (2018)

[DragonClaws]

 

[AlbertV]

I love Constance Wu. She cracks me up on Fresh Off the Boat. I definitely would check this out.

[Gaijin84]

It looks good, but I'm biased to anything with Michelle Yeoh in it. I don't think it will do very well at the box office though, which is unfortunate.

[whitesnake]

It has been pointed out - at https://quartzy.qz.com/1260412/crazy-rich-asians-trailer-south-asians-criticize-film-for-lack-of-ethnic-diversity-and-singaporean-accent/ - that the people in the Crazy Rich Asians trailer are speaking with the wrong accents, and don't sound Singaporean, more American or British.  Also, while Singapore is 74% Chinese, it is still 15% Malay and 7.4% Indian. So there should be more dark-skinned people showing up in the trailer than actually appear, mostly in servant roles. 

Also - https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/viewpoint-colourism-mars-crazy-rich-asians-main-casting  - Henry Golding (plays the hero) and Sonoya Mizuno are Eurasians playing ethnic Chinese characters.  "It's all about the bottom line... Using a Eurasian leading man in a romantic comedy solves a lot of cross-border marketing problems."  "The troubling fact about body aesthetics in our region is that whiter is righter-er (and it is also gendered; notice how the leading women's parts are played by Gemma Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Constance Wu, none of whom are Eurasian, but that is a discussion for another time).  So when our own Asian media is saturated with big-eyed, double-lidded, long-limbed, fair-skinned and tall-nosed figures, all selling an idea of beauty and social status, what is Hollywood to think?" 

If you watched the film's Official Trailer 1, the above may explain why the Youtube trailer has more than 4K dislikes.

Also - http://www.indiewire.com/2017/11/crazy-rich-asians-movie-whitewash-lead-role-1201893975/  - "In a revealing new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kwan [author of Crazy Rich Asians] shared a strange experience he had in the early days of getting his novel made into a big screen property.  The author told the outlet that during an early meeting with a potential producer, 'the producer asked him to reimagine his protagonist Rachel... as Caucasian.  That was their strategy,' he remembers.  'They wanted to change the heroine into a white girl.  I was like, 'Well, you've missed the point completely.'  I said, 'No, Thank you.' "  "(And not to spoil too much, but in subsequent novels, Rachel's own heritage becomes a major part of the story.)"

If you've been reading articles or interviews about the Crazy Rich Asians novel trilogy and the movie, there's all kinds of interesting items, like the differences between Asian-American actors raised in America, and Asian actors raised in Asia.   

I read the trilogy, and loved it!  If the movie plays anywhere near Sacramento, I'll definitely try to see it.  The Crazy Rich Asians official music video is at -

 

Edited August 25, 2018 by whitesnake

[whitesnake]

 

[whitesnake]

With Crazy Rich Asians' opening weekend success at the box office, Warner Brothers is moving ahead with plans for the sequel, China Rich Girlfriend.  News from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/crazy-rich-asians-sequel-plans-revealed-jon-m-chu-writers-returning-1135890  

Kevin Kwan, author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, is wanted in Singapore for draft dodging.  He has live in the U.S. since 1990 and never served the two years in the national service required by Singapore of all its male citizens.  He could face three years in Singapore prison and a fine up to $7,300.  He did not return to Singapore to attend the Singapore premiere of Crazy Rich Asians.   News from https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/crazy-rich-asians-author-kevin-kwan-wanted-draft-dodging-1202913534/

[DragonClaws]

4 minutes ago, whitesnake said:

With Crazy Rich Asians' opening weekend success at the box office, Warner Brothers is moving ahead with plans for the sequel, China Rich Girlfriend.  News from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/crazy-rich-asians-sequel-plans-revealed-jon-m-chu-writers-returning-1135890  

 

Has anyone here actually seen this movie?, it has zero appeal to me, but it's clearly a hit with Chinese people who can afford spalsh money on Cinema visits.

Is it me, or does there appear to be more emphasis on Materialism in Chinese movies?. Now that more of the population has a disposable income. A dispoable income, that Hollywood is very much interested in too.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

couldn't pay me enough...

[whitesnake]

I haven't seen Crazy Rich Asians yet, but am looking forward to it next week.  The film-goers also include us non-Asians who loved the Crazy Rich Asians book trilogy.  You're probably right about materialism in Chinese movies, but I prefer watching the Chinese martial arts and fantasy movies, which don't deal with current Chinese society.        

[AlbertV]

Two weekends in a row at #1 but the most shocking thing is that it only dropped 6% from opening weekend. 

http://www.darkhorizons.com/crazy-rich-asians-retains-box-office-crown/

[DarthKato]

I love me some Michelle Yeoh, but that movie looks awful. lol

[Gaijin84]

On 4/24/2018 at 12:38 PM, Gaijin84 said:

It looks good, but I'm biased to anything with Michelle Yeoh in it. I don't think it will do very well at the box office though, which is unfortunate.

And I was totally wrong. Sequel already in the works.

[KenHashibe]

On 8/25/2018 at 8:19 AM, DragonClaws said:

Has anyone here actually seen this movie?, it has zero appeal to me, but it's clearly a hit with Chinese people who can afford spalsh money on Cinema visits.

Oh I had no idea there was already a thread for this movie. 😁 I had seen this movie the day it came out (solely because I missed my showtime for The Meg), but I didn't care enough to make a thread for it. But since we have a thread for this movie, I'll quickly leave my thoughts.

Crazy Rich Asians was just as good I thought it would be. But that’s unfortunate because I didn’t like it. I was hoping this movie would be something different and unique since it was receiving critical praise. But instead, it’s just another predictable, safe, by-the-numbers romantic comedy. To give the movie a bit of credit, it’s safe to assume that I wasn’t the film’s target demographic. But I was still bothered by the unrealistic dialogue and familiar storyline. The actors are all likable enough, but some of their performances were subpar. The parts of the film that I liked had really overdone and somewhat stereotypical performances. I enjoyed Michelle Yeoh, but that's partially because I'm biased. The production design is pretty nice. And the ending was admittedly kinda clever. But otherwise, I found the film really, really boring. Recommended to people who fantasize about travelling to Asia with your rich attractive boyfriend where you get to shop for dresses all day and go to a lavish wedding. Unfortunately, this doesn't appeal to me.

I mostly just reused a review I wrote for my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronsmovielog/

I feel like this movie's a hit with pretty much everyone and it's critically acclaimed too (for some reason). Almost all of my friends have gone to see it and loved it. I'll admit, I think it's cool that this movie is making a lot of money at the box office though I didn't care for it at all. Hopefully this film's success will lead to more Asians getting leads in Hollywood films. But I wish Crazy Rich Asians was a good movie. There's a movie that recently came out called Searching which has a mostly Asian cast, and it's far superior to Crazy Rich Asians. So definitely go watch Searching instead.

PS There's a Sally Yeh cover of "Material Girl" by Madonna in this movie. In the theater, I thought "Oh hey, I know that voice!" That doesn't improve my overall experience of seeing the movie; I just thought it was cool. 😁

Edited September 17, 2018 by KenHashibe

[SamSeed]

Just saw this. Nice performances, always lovely to see Michelle Yeoh and it plays out exactly how you'd expect.  The trouble is, the clue's in the title, I find it very difficult to sympathize with people who live on a two hundred million dollar estate!

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, SamSeed said:

The trouble is, the clue's in the title, I find it very difficult to sympathize with people who live on a two hundred million dollar estate!

 

And there's more poor Asians, many of whom work their ass off, so these super rush crazy asains, can live the life they do.

[whitesnake]

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Crazy Rich Asians on Blu-ray and DVD on November 20, 2018.  From - https://videoeta.com/items/198892-crazy-rich-asians

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Oh hellz yeah, didn't get a chance to see this at the theaters. 

[whitesnake]

"The producers of 'Crazy Rich Asians,' which doesn't release in China till the end of next month [Nov 2018], are already warming up plans to shoot the film's sequel in the Middle Kingdom... The sequel... is located substantially in China and set two years after the events of 'Crazy Rich Asians.'  More at   https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/crazy-rich-asians-sequel-shoot-in-china-1203008180/

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

I was watching the Roaring Lion last night. In it, the heroes go from one abusive boss to another. Probably just like the companies owned by the family in Crazy Rich Asians.

[DragonClaws]

4 hours ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

I was watching the Roaring Lion last night. In it, the heroes go from one abusive boss to another. Probably just like the companies owned by the family in Crazy Rich Asians.

 

Back in the 70's, these characters would have been the villains, now their the heroes. That said, you did get very rich characters, who were good, and wouldnt be corrupted by the local gangsters. You know, the types that take in young orphan's, and treat them like a son or daughter, useally for their own siblings to turn bad/jealous.

[whitesnake]

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/crazy-rich-asians-sequels-casting-scam-jon-m-chu-1234594759/ 

Some conman on Twitter - "claiming to be an actor and casting associate - posted a notice saying that the supposed 'Crazy Rich Asians' sequels, 'China Rich Girlfriend' and 'Rich People Problems,' were casting Asian actors, ages 20s through 40s, for lead roles via 'live Zoom auditions.'  There was also a part listed for a Caucasian female between ages 25 - 35.  The post asked that talent who wanted to be considered pay [the conman] a $99 'submission fee'."  John M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians, expressed his dismay and disgust over the scam.  

https://news.avclub.com/jon-m-chu-explained-why-the-crazy-rich-asians-sequels-1843199298

"The sequels are in the very, very early stages as of right now, according to  Chu himself.  'We're so far from it.  We don't have a casting director.  We have never said, 'Hey, let's look at people who are out there.'  We've done zero.  We don't even have a script." 

[Agent U]

I caught this over the weekend, as it happened to be on TV while I was doing chores.

It's a light entertaining movie, almost like a modern day Cinderella story. Amazing locations and some fun characters.

The only thing I disliked, and this seems to be a recurring issue with Asian or Asia-related productions, was the blatant antagonism towards Westerners. Not only the movie opens with a 'in your face, Westerners' scene, but later the matriarch's primary issue with the girlfriend is that she's American, and according to her Americans are this and that way. 

Asia has such rich cultures that constantly seeming to want to affirm themselves by antagonising Westerners, and Americans in particular, ends up being disparaging to themselves. Even moreso when the society portrayed here looks heavily Westernised (and seemingly not for the better).