One of my all time favorites.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Surely people won't get something out of this film that they don't expect. It's a Hollywood-ized romantic comedy through and through, but the diversity at its core makes it stand out, and it's also funnier and wittier than most of its kind.

I am so happy that the movie has sparked a lot of dialogue and attention on representation, which on its own is already a great outcome to this movement. One movie can never represent and show all aspects of any culture, especially when "Asian" encompasses such a plethora of diverse cultures. It is just ironic that a light comedy is carrying THIS MUCH weight. This is a story about a girl being thrown into a world she's never dreamt of associating, how she struggles to fight for what she stands for against all odds and about the power of love, through hilarious and sometimes not so hilarious encounters. To me it's Cinderella meets David & Goliath in Sex in the City...I'd recommend it even if this were any other Hollywood movie because the characters are so intriguing and each had an interesting arc, there are so many hilarious moments throughout, the fashion is gorgeous and lots of the actors are too, the sets are stunning! with a wedding to die for (beyond my wildest imaginations)!, and some of the best of Singapore ie the STREET FOOD!! Of course the romance! and more! Watch it not coz it's Asian, though the Asian-ess made it unique and added flavour for sure. I just think this adaptation is brilliant. I recommend it also because I'm biased. (Not about to hide that.) If you keep seeing a repeated image or same story being told, you'll be brainwashed to think they are just like that, nothing more. Proper representation is so critical to eliminate marginalization and to create role models for the next generations to follow. The fact that you get a glimpse into how many kinds of Asians (granted this is predominantly Chinese) there are from around the world, and how differently they behave and speak is pretty fun. But back to supporting #crazyrichasians, it is important because by proving to Hollywood that there is much wider audience interested in stories of people of color, people of the minority, it will open doors to more diverse content, and a better reflection of the real world we live in. If we genuinely believe in diversity and inclusion, now is the time to walk the talk. There's not been many good rom coms in recent years, and the last one that sold well apparently was Train Wreck, although a recent one I liked was the Big Sick. Just go for a fun ride and escape into a world of fantasy for 2 hours. I think we all need it these days.

Ok. So where do I even begin?? When I read the book and heard that it was going to be a movie, I was a bit on the fence. The book had way gives out way too much information, there's way too many characters that a 120 minute movie will not be able to cover, and along with the characters they also had their own battles. I just didn't now how they were going to do it. Jon Chu and the writes did such an amazing job at picking the things that actually matter and gave the story more depth. Although it fell short in really showing the materialistic side of Asia's richest and just how rich they exactly are, it didn't really matter. In a way, we can all draw up our own conclusion in what the rich lifestyle would be like. What he focused on instead is the story of the characters and what gives those characters value: family and love. It captured everything the book was trying to convey without the unnecessary information. Even when they added certain scenes or skipped on others, every move they made just made sense. The actors that played each character played it with so much passion that you can feel every emotion they are feeling through the screen. I'm glad how they wrapped up the Rachel and Nick's love story in the end -- completely unexpected but welcomed. Peik Lin's character was completely ignored in the book, the movie showed she has so much potential and gave me the comedic relief I never knew I needed. So glad they made her appear a lot more frequently in the movie. And I adored the change in Astrid's story, the power she exuded as she took matters to her own hands made me excited for her own love story to develop in the next one. And I really do hope that there will be a sequel.

I truly wanted to like Crazy Rich Asians. I heard almost all good things leading up to it's release, which might have raised my expectations too much, but nonetheless I felt it was a bit of a let down. First, I'll talk about what I liked. The general camera work and cinematography did an excellent job at highlighting the vibrant lifestyles of the characters and showing off the Chinese culture in an incredibly stunning way. The shots of both the Singapore skyline as well as the more intimate shots of the city marketplace made me want to visit very badly. Another plus for this movie is the actress Awkwafina who plays a supporting role. She was without a doubt the funniest part of the whole movie and stole every scene she was in. However, scene stealing wouldn't be particularly hard in this movie as most scenes play out with little to no successful comedy. The lead actress, Constance Wu gives a completely flat performance that conveys neither humor nor accessibility. As the main character, it is a massive issue that she is portrayed as unrelatable and lifeless. None of the other actors do a bad job, but rather aren't given a whole lot to do in terms of acting or comedy (with the exception of Awkwafina). I also had some narrative issues with the story. Worst of all, I felt the main character Rachel had almost no agency in this movie. She goes from scene to scene with stuff happening to her along the way, to which she never responds until the final moments of the film. Like a lot of this movie, she felt very one dimensional and hollow. Another issue I had was the over stuffing of plot threads. I don't want to get into spoilers so I'll leave it vague, but I thought many of the story lines were either poorly set up or didn't tie into the climax in any way. The general story line is fine, a very by the numbers rom-com story, that didn't break any new ground, despite having characters and a setting that are often underrepresented on screen. I think all this surface level story with random side plots could have worked fine if the comedy worked better, but I felt most of the jokes fell flat, my theater got a few chuckles but certainly not what you'd expect. Also, interestingly, there were one or two scenes that made people laugh, however I believe this was unintentional. The scenes seemed to be meant to be taken seriously but were just somewhat ridiculous. I suspect the reason that this movie was unsuccessful to me in having compelling characters or fresh comedy was due to the type of lifestyle the characters lived. Although visually appealing, very few people can relate to the asian billionaires who are described as Chinese royalty. When I think of successful movies that show off another culture in a respectful and honest way, what comes to mind is The Big Sick. It was able to draw you in with characters that are of another culture but still operate on a more simple, grounded lifestyle like most people, making their story more compelling due to the accessibility of it. I'm sad that Crazy Rich Asians wasn't able to work on that level because I think it's an important movie for getting minority representation in four quadrant hollywood movies. Based on what I've seen of other reviews, I might be in the minority on this one, but I can't confidently say you'll like it.