Crazy Rich Asians: Thank God For Rich People Problems (and God Bless America)

(WARNING: This contains spoilers for the entire film.)

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Nick Young has more than a good fortune. He's rich (maybe even... crazy rich?) and he's already found the woman made to fit the role of the wife in Rachel Chu, who's not that rich, and is also somehow not aware that she's dating the son of the richest family in Singapore. Oh well, we don't watch romantic comedies for their realism.

The problem is that there's very little to get lost into. These people are rich, and they sure are Asians, but the narrative and the underlying themes are as conventional as can be. I don't think conventions are bad per se, all narratives are built on them. It is however disappointing to see a film whose primary appeal is its diversity do so little to challenge the ideas it shows us.

You might have seen the criticism surrounding Nick's casting, as the character is Chinese Singaporean while the actor who plays him (Henry Golding who does a decent job in his first acting role) is Malaysian. As I am not Asian I don't think I'm the most appropriate person to talk about this, so I won't, but I believe it is quite representative of the overall problems surrounding the film.

It seems to me like Crazy Rich Asians only has interest in showing a certain aspect of Asian culture, which is a high class, light-skinned, conventionally attractive by western standards one. The only non-rich Asian people we see are street vendors in a short scene after Rachel and Nick arrive in Singapore. Other than this short introduction, we only see incredibly wealthy people, and apparently the people behind the film are not interested in questioning the legitimity of their wealth.

Nick's family is not the only rich one in the film: Goh Peik Lin (played by Awkwafina, who is an absolute joy to watch even when a movie does nothing with her), Rachel's college best friend also comes from a rich family. In their introductory scene, their excessive wealth is actually mocked, their house referred to as "heavily inspired by Donald Trump's bathroom". It's a fun little line, and it seems to hint at mockery towards wealth. Scenes like the bachelor and bachelorette parties also seem to show how ridiculous this all is.

But then, when Peik Lin and Rachel drive towards the Young's family house, they stand in front of it in awe at how "beautiful" it is, which wouldn't be that awful if the house had actually anything of note besides being a colonial one. The same thing could be said about the compassion the movie obviously has for Astrid, who buys earrings worth more than a million dollars and hides them so her husband can't see them. After all, it's not her fault that she's rich, right?

These differences in the way wealth gets treated in CRA left me wondering what we were supposed to take from it. Why is it sometimes ridiculous and sometimes beautiful? What's the difference between "good" and "bad" extreme wealth? The answers seem hard to find, and I don't know if the movie wants to give them.

The major conflict in the film isn't about Rachel and Nick. In fact, when she learns about her boyfriend's real identity, it takes her about two minutes to be at peace with it. The real antagonist here is Nick's mother, Eleanor, who takes issue with his son possibly marrying a Chinese-American. Soon enough, the movie becomes in a not-so-subtle way a fight between traditional Chinese Singaporean values and Chinese-American values, represented in a conflict between passion (Rachel) and family (Eleanor). Obviously, the film is made for an American audience, so we know since the very beginning of the movie which side will win. Attempts to sympathize with Eleanor are very few and although by the end of the film we don't see her as a complete villain anymore, her motivations and personality still remain largely unexplored. A conflict of values which could have been explored in a much more interesting way is unfortunately often reduced as the Mean Old Asian Woman vs the Nice Young Asian-American Girl. Neither Rachel nor Eleanor deserved such a superficial treatment. There are some attempts to make it more complex, especially by showing how much Rachel cares about her mom, therefore showing that she cares about family as much as her passion, but it still remains superficial.

Maybe I shouldn't wish Crazy Rich Asians was more. I am glad that people are finding things to love and relate to in it, I really am. To me, it was a strange viewing experience. Outside of the technical defaults (some of the worst editing I've seen in a major release this year), its themes left me doubtful and sometimes frankly uncomfortable in the way they were treated. It could have been just a cute romantic comedy, but the jokes fell flat way too often for me to consider it one. From the casting choices to the way the overall subject is handled, Crazy Rich Asians' ideas are handled in a strange way and make it hard for me to see it as harmless entertainment. Asian people deserve better, every talented actor in this deserves better, romantic comedies deserve better.

At least Awkwafina's getting that money though.