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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
(Rated PG-13 for some suggestive content and language.)
The cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan and Awkwafina.
What it’s about: When Rachel Chu (Wu) agrees to attend a wedding in Singapore with her longtime boyfriend Nick Young (Golding), he reveals a massive secret. He comes from one of the country’s wealthiest families and, as a result, he’s one of its most sought-after bachelors. Once they arrive, Rachel is forced to adjust to this shocking news while also fighting off jealous, backbiting socialites. If that wasn’t bad enough, she must also win over Nick’s disapproving mother, who believes Rachel and her son are too different to be compatible.
The good: Based on author Kevin Kwan’s beloved trilogy, Crazy Rich Asians is the first Hollywood movie featuring a predominately Asian-American cast since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club. From a standpoint of representation, that’s huge. There’s an entire generation of people who’ve never been able to go to a multiplex to see a movie featuring a big cast that looks like them. For many of us, it’s impossible to imagine what that would be like.
So the film is symbolically and culturally significant. But let’s focus on the merits. Is it any good? That’s a giant understatement. Crazy Rich Asians is an absolute delight. As soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it again.
For two solid hours, I smiled, gasped, laughed, brushed away tears, and prayed that the people sitting around me couldn’t hear my stomach growling. There are so many scenes featuring delicious, lovingly prepared cuisine that I probably gained five pounds just from staring at the screen and drooling.
Director Jon M. Chu, along with co-writers Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, bring their A-game with this glorious throwback to the ’90s-’00s heyday of mainstream romantic comedies. They hit pretty much every well-known genre trope, but the movie never feels trite or clichéd.
Vanja Cernjul’s cinematography is gorgeous, the music is fantastic (especially a stunning rendition of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Kina Grannis) and the cast is incredible. Golding is charismatic in his big screen debut, while supporting performers Awkwafina (as Rachel’s best friend) and Nico Santos (as Nick’s flamboyant cousin) steal a ton of scenes thanks to their killer comedic timing.
But if there’s any justice in the world, Crazy Rich Asians will launch Wu (currently starring in ABC’s sitcom Fresh Off the Boat) onto the Hollywood A-list like Pretty Woman did for Julia Roberts. The woman’s a star.
The not-so-good: Several intriguing characters, like Henry’s goodhearted sister (Chan), are stuck in subplots that are either underdeveloped or end abruptly. Based on what I’ve learned about Kwan’s novels, Chu could be saving those elements for future sequels. Hopefully this film will be successful enough to get those greenlit. I want to spend a lot more time with these people.
Grade: B+
Puzzle
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| Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics |
(Rated R for language. Now playing at Tara and The Springs Cinema & Taphouse in Atlanta.)
The cast: Kelly Macdonald, David Denman, Irrfan Khan, Bubba Weiler and Austin Abrams.
What it’s about: Agnes (Macdonald), a timid housewife, begins to look at the world differently after receiving a jigsaw puzzle for her birthday. She discovers she has a knack for this newfound hobby and connects with a wealthy recluse (Khan) who sees her potential. He encourages her to enter a tournament, which boosts her confidence and self-worth. It’s a change that her husband (Denman) and sons (Weiler, Abrams), who have spent years taking her for granted, aren’t sure they like at first.
The good: This interesting story (based on the Argentinian film Rompecabezas) eschews giant plot developments and larger-than-life performances to focus on the slow, incremental growth – or lack thereof – that people experience every day. Director Marc Turtletaub, working from a screenplay by Polly Mann and Oren Moverman, captures Agnes’ humdrum existence in low-key ways that gradually reveal their significance, such as the powerful birthday party sequence that opens the film.
Still, what makes Puzzle worth seeing are the impressive performances, especially from Macdonald (delivering reliably stellar work since 1996’s Trainspotting) and Denman (who is outstanding as yet another unappreciative love interest). Macdonald is doing intricate, complex character building, keeping almost everything internal while making it look effortless.
Denman’s part is showier, full of swagger and fragile masculinity, but he gets a real chance to shine in the film’s third act. Khan is also quite good as the quiet, wounded recluse, but he pops up so infrequently that viewers don’t get as much of a chance to connect with his character.
The not-so-good: The basic story at the heart of Puzzle is too thin for its 103-minute running time, which means the film is sluggish in places. Also, despite the subtle, measured performances, it feels like Turtletaub, Mann and Moverman don’t fully trust the audience to pick up on the movie’s key themes. Just when I started to think about how the title was actually a metaphor connecting the characters with their unhappiness, one of them literally delivered a monologue that clumsily dragged all that compelling subtext up to the surface.
Grade: B
Never Goin’ Back
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| Courtesy of A24 |
The cast: Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone and Kyle Mooney.
What it’s about: A unique spin on raunchy teen comedies that usually feature male protagonists, the story follows best friends who dream of escaping their mundane jobs at a Texas diner. Angela (Mitchell) decides to surprise Jessie (Morrone) with a trip to the beach for her birthday, but she spends their rent money to book a condo. With only a few days to raise the cash, the girls try one ridiculous scheme after another, with hilariously disastrous results.
The good: This is Augustine Frizzell’s feature-length debut and the filmmaker demonstrates a clear, interesting comedic voice. Directing from her own screenplay, she wryly comments on the kind of “teen idiot” characters that made Judd Apatow a very rich, influential Hollywood powerhouse. Most audiences laugh and roll their eyes when Jonah Hill and Michael Cera play sex-crazed burnouts. But a lot of viewers respond much differently when it’s two young girls acting the same way.
Mitchell (a former Disney Channel star) and Morrone (a model, Al Pacino’s stepdaughter and rumored girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio) are great, throwing vanity out the window to play characters that are downright unlikable for long stretches. But their charisma ultimately wins out, making Angela and Jessie seem like lovable losers instead of the sociopaths they’d be in real life.
The not-so-good: Never Goin’ Back is a fun watch in the moment, but the movie evaporates almost as quickly as its brief 85-minute running time. Only a few days later, I can barely remember key plot points. But that doesn’t include the shocking, hilariously gross conclusion. Nope, that’s going to be burned into my brain for a long time.
Grade: B-
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