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Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

hendersonrocks

By hendersonrocks
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NUguy514
NUguy514

Oh, that scene had everything to do with the rest of the movie.  It establishes exactly who these people are and what they can do with a metaphorical snap of their fingers because of how unbelievably

calliope1975
calliope1975

For me, this scene established exactly how rich these people are with Ms. Young quickly and easily buying the hotel after being disrespected. I thought it was more about establishing their wealth with

ClareWalks
ClareWalks

Did this really need to be said?

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nicepebbles

nicepebbles

Saw this movie earlier in the week. Loved it! I've had a crush on Constance Wu since I first saw Fresh Off the Boat. And Michelle Yeoh since Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons. Now Henry Golding. The screen should've melted from the hotness. 

I haven't read the books so I have no idea what's the same and different. 

It was tropey yet done well so I didn't care. My biggest pet peeve is I'll never understand how person A can know they want to marry person B, plan to propose, but that person B has never met Person's A family or know anything about it. I would've said said yes to Nick, too (who could say no to that face?) but we'd seriously wait a minute to have some conversations. He's knew Rachel for a year.  At some point after month 6 but before the trip, he should've told her about his family. Rachel meeting the family for the first time would've went better with some prep. And no way should it have been done during a wedding. Just bad timing. 

I wanted to know more about Eleanor's character. Did she not like Rachel because she thought Rachel would keep him away because he'd move to America? She's already lost her son and doesn't want to lose him again. Fear can make people stupid. Does Rachel remind her of what she gave up and she doesn't want to be reminded of that? She has great kids and is rich but she still had to deal with her mother-in-law's comments at times. She's got to feel some type of way about the decisions she's made, wondering if she made the right choice. I can see Rachel making her question herself and sometimes people don't want that. Add on the cultural and societal expectations about who should marry who. I mean Astrid had already married "down" so the other kid marrying "down". I imagine this was a very emotional time. She was definitely mean to Rachel, completely uncalled for, yet I can understand what she may've been feeling. Her and Rachel definitely need to talk. 

So mad Astrid's husband turned out to be a cheater! 

Where the hell was Nick's dad? I was so hoping he'd pop up and be Chow Yun-Fat. I would've died. *fingers crossed for the sequel*

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Nidratime

Nidratime

I might be misunderstanding, but Astrid isn't Nick's sister. She's his cousin. Her mother is Felicity Young Leong, the woman who is with Eleanor at the London hotel. Felicity is Nick's father's sister and is one of Ah Ma's daughters. 

As for Nick's father:

Spoiler

Nick's father was in the book, but didn't have a huge role, that I can recall. He was nicer to Rachel, though. I also hope he shows up in the next movie.

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arc

arc

In the movie, the Young family are mega-rich developers and famous around the city-state. (Which makes it a little harder to believe Rachel's never heard of Nick's family and wealth.) In the book, the Young family are as mega-rich as in the movie but they're super secretive about their wealth; other old money families know who they are but the hoi polloi don't, not even new money rich like the Gohs.

And about Nick's dad Philip Young and the Young clan (real spoilers for the second and third books, mostly about the structure of the family wealth of the Youngs):

Spoiler

One way Philip takes after his father (Nick's grandfather), James Young, is that as far as I can tell, James was not rich prior to marrying into the Shang family, and so the Young branch is not in any business at all. They're just rich. Neither Philip nor James were particularly good at making money. I suppose Nick seems to fit into this mold as well, come to think of it. Eleanor might not be that compatible with the much more laid back/easygoing Philip, but she's at least an avid stock day trader.

There's some belief among the children and grandchildren of Shang Su Yi -- Nick's grandmother -- that she is an equal shareholder of the Shang shipping empire with her brother Alfred, but in fact he is the sole inheritor; she is merely provided for via the family trust to live like a billionaire heiress.

 

19 hours ago, nicepebbles said:

I wanted to know more about Eleanor's character. Did she not like Rachel because she thought Rachel would keep him away because he'd move to America?

It's not so much the question of where Nick lives physically, but that Rachel is too Americanized for Eleanor's taste. Not that Rachel doesn't know what a finger bowl is, but deep-down cultural issues like following your passion vs sacrificing for your family.

I know Americans also sacrifice for the family, but consider what Eleanor's calculus with Nick was: she sent Nick to live with his grandma so that he would earn his grandma's love. Eleanor sacrificed a lot of closeness to Nick for Nick's sake, that he could be assured of a good position in his grandma's will and thus be set for life. A similar situation in America might instead have a mother like Eleanor sacrifice their standing in the family matriarch's eyes, and forego the hope of a rich inheritance in favor of preserving (nuclear) family bonds. But the latter would be unthinkable for Eleanor because she would rather trade her own happiness for the sake of her son's future. To Eleanor, then, Rachel represented an unacceptable, incompatible set of values.

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Nidratime

Nidratime

(edited)
Quote

 

And about Nick's dad Philip Young and the Young clan (real spoilers for the second and third books, mostly about the structure of the family wealth of the Youngs):

 

Spoiler

One way Philip takes after his father (Nick's grandfather), James Young, is that as far as I can tell, James was not rich prior to marrying into the Shang family, and so the Young branch is not in any business at all. They're just rich. Neither Philip nor James were particularly good at making money. I suppose Nick seems to fit into this mold as well, come to think of it. Eleanor might not be that compatible with the much more laid back/easygoing Philip, but she's at least an avid stock day trader.

 

Just to respond to one part of what you wrote in the spoiler section of your answer.

Spoiler

Actually the old man that the Gohs visit in order to get the scoop on who the Youngs are does say that James Young came from a family that had money -- generations of money -- but they were no way as wealthy as Shang Su Yi's family. However, despite not being as "crazy rich" as the Shang's, I get the impression from the story that's told about James in the book, that he was very well respected. It says, he was the first Western-educated neurologist in Singapore and was trained at Oxford. He wasn't interested in making money -- at least, not any more money than his family already had -- but instead, he was interested in using his skills to help others. He was part of an underground medical corps during WWII and, after the war, he set up a free clinic to serve the poor and elderly. So, the Young's reputation was a combination of Su YI's family's enormous wealth and the regard that was felt for James. I actually don't recall what Su Yi and James' son Philip did "for a living" -- whether it was shipping, real estate, or what.

ETA: I looked up Philip's profession in a Wiki and supposedly he's an engineer. And, as Su Yi's only son, he's supposed to inherit Tyersall Park. But I've not read all the books, so I don't know if that actually happens.

 

Edited by Nidratime
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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

I love that romantic comedy's are having a bit of a come back. For a long time, they were in such a terrible rut (so many asshole dudes who have to learn to be better because of a quirky but basically perfect woman!) its nice to see them actually making money and producing quality entertainment. 

I am super interested in checking the books out, I liked the movie so much!

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Blergh

Blergh

(edited)

Did anyone else. . .?

Spoiler

see the opening scene and hope that would lead Nick to call out Eleanor's trashing of Rachel via citing her own experience with prejudice and bigotry. Even though Rachel more than held her own, IMO it would have been good had Eleanor been confronted via been told that she was being even more unfair to someone of her OWN background than others had been to her.

Edited by Blergh
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Nidratime

Nidratime

On 9/27/2018 at 10:54 AM, Blergh said:

Did anyone else. . .?

  Hide contents

see the opening scene and hope that would lead Nick to call out Eleanor's trashing of Rachel via citing her own experience with prejudice and bigotry. Even though Rachel more than held her own, IMO it would have been good had Eleanor been confronted via been told that she was being even more unfair to someone of her OWN background than others had been to her.

So glad you brought that up!

Spoiler

I thought it made Eleanor seem extremely hypocritical, when she said to her son that Rachel would probably feel more comfortable staying in a hotel rather than at her home or the grandmother's home during their visit to Singapore. That directly mirrored the decades earlier event, when those hotel employees told Eleanor that she and her party would feel more comfortable staying in Chinatown rather than in their high end hotel.

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Stenbeck

Stenbeck

I saw this last night and thought it was great.

  • There wasn't such EXTREME opulence of money as I expected. Thinking it over, the money was there but in more subtle ways the chairs with the golden detail during the dumpling cooking come to mind. The movie succeeded in getting the old money point across in a "Wealth Whispers, Money Screams" kind of way. 
  • Rachel was the weakest point, IMO. She wasn't as charming as I expected her to be. Michelle Yeoh is so amazing I was kind of rooting for her character.
  • Wall Street cousin with the three kids was my favorite supporting character.
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Morrigan2575

Morrigan2575

I just saw this last night.  Very entertaining, I'm not usually a fan of RomComs but this was entertaining and I liked the main characters.

Michelle Yeoh was great but, I've been a fan of hers for years. I was surprised at how much I liked Nick. Although, I think Astro was my favorite character, the actress that played her was unbelievably beautiful.

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arc

arc

I’m watching this EPK and Jon Chu casually mentioned that Constance Wu had never been to Asia before filming. Aw. (I can totally relate; I didn’t visit till I was 28, yet my parents are from there.)

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blueray

blueray

I just saw this movie yesterday. I really liked it. There were some things that were predictable, like I totally called that the bride's "lawyer friend" was back-stabby.  And the scene at the end where he runs after her in the plane, that has to be in every romantic comedy. Yet, I still love those scenes anyway. Anyhow, great movie, I can see why it did so well.

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Anela

Anela

Just saw it, and loved it. I'm not big on romantic comedies, but I also wanted to support this one (not that it needed my DVD rental money, months after it was released). dad liked it, too. 

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emjohnson03

emjohnson03

I caught this last night as I was looking for a movie to watch. I kinda forgot I wanted to see it. 

I thought it was great! I really liked the music, the scenery, the costumes, everything. My sister in law is 100% Chinese but of course nothing like this. I liked the use of the rich boy, poor girl and I thought it was done so well!

I'm not one for Asian men but goodness, Henry Golding with the accent and the charm? Whew! I really liked him too. 

It was better than I thought and I thought it was going to be good. 

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topanga

topanga

I finally saw this over the weekend (thanks, free HBO). It was on my "Movies to See" list, but I never made to the theater, unfortunately. 

On 8/21/2018 at 3:41 AM, methodwriter85 said:

Definitely a lot of fun, and it was great to see something not usually seen in romantic comedies.

I agree. A great rom-com that added a few serious conversations about culture, identity, and family. Beautiful and talented casting. 

One thing bothered me--I know this movie was about crazy rich people and how Rachel reacted to this world--and whether it could ever become her world. 

But I never heard anyone--not Rachel, Nick, Peik Lin, or Rachel's mother, ever suggest that anyone's spending was excessive or wasteful or greedy. I take that back: one of the Aunties commented that Araminta's family paid $40 million for her and Colin's wedding, which was more than the $20 million usually spent on lavish weddings. 

I'm not telling people how to spend their money. And I didn't expect Rachel to stand up and denounce capitalism or to tell Nick they should live in a shack without running water or electricity and donate all of their money to the poor. But a throwaway line of "Is all of this really necessary?" would've satisfied me. Like at Araminta's bachelorette party, when the women went crazy at the free shopping spree. Rachel chose one beautiful dress (and later added a necklace) and said it was because she didn't want to lose a finger fighting for clothes. But couldn't she have told Araminta--or maybe even Peik Lin--that she didn't need anything else besides that one dress? 

Another example: I really liked Astrid, and by the end of the movie, she learned to stop diminishing herself in order to protect her husband's fragile ego. Any insecurities he felt were not her fault. But to celebrate her new-found sense of empowerment, she wore her 1.2 million dollar earrings with pride. Again, I'm not trying to dictate how people spend their money. But becoming a confident woman who trusts her inner voice means wearing million dollar jewelry? Did she ever explore the possibility that she spent so much money on clothing and accessories because her life was unhappy?

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andromeda331

andromeda331

Finally saw the movie over the weekend and I loved it. I loved Rachel and Nick. He was so adorable and I loved the plane proposal with him stopping to help put luggage and stuff while trying to talk to Rachel. I loved Astrid and Peik. I loved that Peik insisted on driving Rachel to the Yuns and had dress bags in the trunk and that it included a walk of shame dress. I loved the costumes and places. It all looked so gorgeous. Didn't like Eleanor but the actress did an excellent job. I loved Oliver. The cute twins who brought Rachel food. That was really cute and really sweet. I loved how fast info about Rachel went around the family and everyone and Nick getting a call from his mom just as he's inviting Rachel to meet his family. I loved the scenes with Rachel and her mom. I loved the grandmother going to the wedding with Astrid, that was really sweet. I loved everything Astrid said to Michael before leaving him and Astrid deciding to tell Rachel things weren't going well with Michael. I love the scene with Rachel and Eleanor at mahjong scene. Rachel was so awesome I loved everything she said and the call back to her game theory class. Such a great movie. 

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biakbiak

biakbiak

I rewatched this weekend because my boyfriend hadn’t seen it and I realized that I have grown to loathe Constance Wu on Fresh off the Boat so much that it transferred to this movie and I didn’t find her as charming as I did the first time.

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topanga

topanga

20 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Did this really need to be said?

I don't think the original poster meant to sound offensive, but when I read that comment, I bristled. 

... Taking my comments to the "Race and Ethnicity in the Movies" thread. 

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wanderingstar

wanderingstar

(edited)

This movie is on HBO now, and it's just reminding me how delightful this movie is and how much I loved it when I saw in the theater last year. Constance Wu is just winsome fun in this movie, and I love the look of it; and this film just cemented my love of Michelle Yeoh. It's one of those movies that just makes me happy when I watch it.

I've read the first book and plan to read the other 2 in the trilogy - hopefully before the sequels are released.

Edited by Gillian Rosh
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Friendly kitty

Friendly kitty

I am a fan of Asian dramas. The plot of the film is the usual plot of the usual drama, which I have already seen a lot. The same rejection by parents of the girl for her son, the same snobbery, the same self-sacrifice, and the same happy ending.
But here I liked more to look at the quirks of rich Asians. Flower Party - Beauty! Wedding ... above all praise. 🤑This I have not seen in any film or television series, I sat, opening my mouth ...
A great movie!
9/10.

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Sharpie66

Sharpie66

Another one who just watched this on HBO for the first (and second) time. Loved it so much! I will definitely be picking up the book soon. 

One thing I caught on the second viewing was that, in the social media barrage of texts in the beginning after they are seen in NY, they have one person asking, “Does Amanda know yet?” Very well done, movie.

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Sharpie66

Sharpie66

(edited)

Wow, they all look amazing!

i am currently listening to the CRA episode of one of my favorite movie podcasts, School of Movies. They have one of the cast members on the show, the guy who plays the creepy brother of Peik Lin, the one who keeps photographing Rachel. 

ETA: just finished listening to the podcast. The actor was really interesting and had neat stories about casting and filming to share. He had originally been brought in to read for Bernard Tai, but he told them right away that he wasn’t a good fit for the part. They brought him back for P.T. and he took it, even though he wasn’t supposed to have any lines and was just supposed to be in the lunch scene. But, they liked his energy, or rather, lack of too much energy to contrast with everyone else at the table, and gave him lines and additional scenes. 

Edited by Sharpie66
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Trini

Trini

Another 'finally watched this on HBO' here! Not much to add; I liked all the things that everyone has mentioned, but a few comments:

  • Well, now I feel bad for Black Panther since they had to keep their Token White for the whole movie. The fact that most (or all) of the main, supporting, and background characters were Asian/non-White was refreshing for me.
  • I wish there was more of Nick, and more info about him in the film. I know he's got family money, but I didn't catch what he did as a career. Also I wanted to see/hear more of his relationship with his mother.
  • Maybe this is something that is explained in the books, but is "Young" an common spelling of that name in Asia? I'm used to seeing "Yung" in the roman alphabet.
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arc

arc

I feel like I know more (Chinese) Young’s than Yung’s. This may be down to lingering effects of British colonialism or just different transliteration systems.

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Athena

Athena

On 5/29/2019 at 11:39 PM, Trini said:

Maybe this is something that is explained in the books, but is "Young" an common spelling of that name in Asia? I'm used to seeing "Yung" in the roman alphabet.

On 5/31/2019 at 5:19 AM, arc said:

I feel like I know more (Chinese) Young’s than Yung’s. This may be down to lingering effects of British colonialism or just different transliteration systems.

Young is often the transliteration of the Chinese surname Yang (which can also be spelled Yung). Due to Singapore's diversity of Chinese groups, there wasn't a consistent a policy for romantisation of the Chinese language. Since Nick's family is old and well established, they likely took the most phonetic and anglicized variation of the name in the early 20th century. 

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biakbiak

biakbiak

On 5/30/2019 at 7:46 AM, Sharpie66 said:

I don’t know if this was from the book, but Nick is apparently a history prof at NYU, which is why they both have spring break time for the trip.

Yeah it’s not mentioned in the movie they never say what he did for living. I saw the movie before I read the book so there were a few things like that that I found myself wondering about so I asked people who had read the book and they filled in a lot of the gaps and then I read it.

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ChicksDigScars

ChicksDigScars

(edited)

Why am I so attached to this movie? It's like Comfort Food. I watch it EVERY TIME it pops up on one of the HBO channels in my DirectTV online guide. I even have it saved on my DVR. 

As far as the Young Family Tree, I picked up that Auntie Felicity was Astrid's mother right away, but is Auntie Alix, Oliver's mother (LOVE Ollie)! The last names in the credits don't match, so I'm thinking no. And are Alistair and Eddie brothers? Both their last names appear as Cheng. 

Edited by ChicksDigScars
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