After the well-deserved success of "Everything Everywhere All at Once," it's a literal joy to see the momentum of diverse representation continue with "Crazy Rich Asians" co-writer Adele Lim's directorial debut "Joy Ride." This particular Asian-American-led film is making history with an all-female cast, including a non-binary actress.
At the world premiere of SXSW, Lim joked that all they needed was an ally in the form of a rich white man to produce her movie (thanks, Seth Rogen). With his trademark deep laugh, Rogen backed off lovingly and didn't try to steal the cast's attention as they enjoyed his shining moment.
Director: Adele Lim
Writers: Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Teresa Hsiao, Adele Lim
Stars: Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, David Denman
“Joy Ride” is a prime example of how important screen representation is, and proves that Asian-American comedians can be just as funny, raunchy, and successful as their white male counterparts.
The film's opening scene is a flashback to 1993 when best friends Lolo (Sherry Cola) and Audrey (Ashley Park) originally meet in a small, predominantly white town called White Hills. The two instantly connect on a playground as they are the only two Chinese-American children. The fact that Audrey is adopted by white parents is not a problem for the brave and outspoken Lolo, who punches a young boy in the face at the first mention of a racist comment towards them.
As the girls grow together, they hold on to their commonalities despite having completely opposite personalities. Lolo is an openly sex-positive artist with a stronger connection to her heritage than Audrey. Lolo uses her art to subvert traditional gender roles and expectations of women in her culture, as well as spark conversations about sex. Audrey is a reserved and successful lawyer who keeps up with her predominantly white male colleagues, usually named Michael or Kevin.
Screenwriters Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao quickly set the comedic tone for the racial comments that run throughout the film, showing no mercy in how these characters face daily judgment and labels, even if others don't mean to intentionally hurt. They also successfully highlight the barriers that Audrey and Lolo are trying to break as women in their careers.
While Audrey is grateful that her colleagues threw her a birthday party (even though it's "Mulan" themed), she strives to aim higher by cementing a deal with a Chinese client to become a partner in her company. . Along with Lolo working as her translator, she books a flight to Beijing and decides to kill two birds with one stone by also looking for her biological mother. The friends are joined by Audrey's college best friend, Kat (Stephanie Hsu), and Lolo's reclusive cousin, Deadeye.
Each character has their own unique quirks and contributions to their experience as Asian Americans. While shows like "Fresh Off the Boat" and "Awkwafina is Nora from Queens" explore the Asian-American experience in the US, "Joy Ride" stands out because its characters travel to China and eventually South Korea. This cultural immersion is challenging for Audrey because she feels like she doesn't belong anywhere. She is too Asian for America and too white for Asia. This fight is one of many important and relatable experiences featured in the film. Each writer and actor brought aspects of their own personal experiences to the story and used improv multiple times during filming, adding to the emotion and inclusive narrative to make it that much more genuine.
In addition to thematic elements surrounding identity and friendship, "Joy Ride" offers sizzling comedy by embracing sex, drugs, cultural immersion, and bridging the gap between the younger generations and their elders. The team encounters everything from drug dealers to threesomes with members of the Chinese Basketball Association to vagina tattoos while traveling. The jokes avoid slapstick and instead wisely attack social stigma and cultural representation in general.
They are evenly distributed among the cast with insults, awkward personality quirks, and snide remarks to unsuspecting or self-serving acquaintances. The script is overflowing with comedy and social commentary almost to excess because there's so much these talented women want and deserve to say. Because movies like this aren't readily available, the attempt to get points across becomes urgent at times, and there are few moments where audiences can be completely numb from the impact.
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