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I am a late middle aged, overweight, balding, white, male, American who worked in Singapore during the 1990's and then took my family there for the opening of the skypark in 2010. This was actually an advantage since I was always waived though immigration, customs, and the casino entrance (the casino is free for foreigners, $100/day for Singaporeans). If anyone asks me what the major religion of Singapore is I just tell them that they worship money. It's true. Yes they have churches, temples, and mosques - but nothing can compete with money. Starting a conversation asking about investment options is normal. Comments on the movie: It's a loooonnnngggg plane ride. I never got first class, business class was great on Singapore Air, barely tolerable on US airlines. You may die in economy and no one will care. The "street food" scenes are accurate but a misnomer. You don't buy food off of vendors on the street - they are gathered together in strictly regulated food courts. Hawker centers are outdoor and usually visited at night. Food courts are air conditioned and connected to shopping malls, slightly more expensive than hawker centers but worth it for a fat white guy. Speaking of air conditioning, Singapore is equatorial. It's hot. It's humid. The sun is directly overhead at noon and would melt lead on the sidewalk except that you would be arrested for littering the sidewalk with lead. Speaking of being arrested in Singapore, if you are a reasonably well adjusted human being don't worry about it. Illegal drugs and violent crimes carry the death penalty. It is rarely imposed because people have learned not to do these things. Singapore posts a lot of laws because they are an amalgamation of many cultures. If you don't know whether it is acceptable to defecate in public there will be a sign to tell you not to. Anyway I enjoyed the movie. Unfortunately my daughter will probably not have such a great wedding.

Sounds like the bad reviews are people who feel their Asian race was not represented in the movie, people who think just because a movie is set in a certain country in this case Singapore means everyone from that country is swimming in wealth, materialistic and shallow. Then Americans must love blowing up planes, buildings, cities based on the Die Hard movies I used to watch. Also Westerners who just can't stomach the fact that hey Asian people too can have it all and yes they don't all live in mud huts and speak bad English. If you just watch the movie and forget about the skin colour of the actors, who cares what country it was filmed in and accept it is all fantasy and Hollywood entertainment. Nobody is asking you to be crazy, materialistic and rich just like Die Hard is not asking you to take on terrorist groups and jump off burning planes. It's a romantic comedy with a poke at Chinese culture and the generation gap. People just read too much into it and you know it made an impact as haters bothered to hate.

There are three complaints:

1. Celebrates perversity - romance and materialism are too intimately tied together (i.e. gold-digging) that both end up being expounded in their superficiality and unreality

2. Limited representation - only "Chinese" Asians and only extremely wealthy individuals are portrayed, undermining the efficacy and diversity of true "asianhood"

3. Shallow plot and characters - overused story-line about romance and familial tensions, a pure imitation of Western desires with a lack of oriental authenticity, leading to a paper-thin plot protracted by stereotypes

Three responses:

1. If you actually consider how the movie plays out, the elements that supposedly celebrate exuberance and materialistic romance are either dismissed in their possible retention of worth or confined to brief stylistic moments which throw the more intractable experience of love without materialism into stark relief. There is so much evidence of this throughout the film - every point of excess ingrains in us, as an audience, a sense of disgust or doubt - is that not then the point? Plus the title literally spells the theme out for you "Crazy Rich", so yeah. What did you expect?

2. Now the second part of the title"Asians". I agree, the film does not cover every individual that would be qualified under the term in an ethnic or otherwise geographic sense. But why did it have to? It is not a documentary. It does not aim for absolute objective authority, it tells a story with insight into a limited persona with limited struggles and limited breadth. The assertion that the movie is inaccurate or "bad" because it does not show us every type of Asian is extremely unfair - at least they showed us some (where most do not show any) and they did it in a way where the central aspects of being Asian are still on display (e.g. filial guilt, patriarchy).

3. This then leads me to my next point. What is the big picture? Sure we could convert this movie to have an all white cast and the general story-line and characters would not have to be completely revised, I concede that. But, to me the appearance of an all Asian cast in big budget Hollywood - twenty-five years after "The Joy Luck Club" - means a lot. I think even if you take the plot at its worst - dreary, old garbage - and the inclusion of Asians as mere tokenistic market-pandering, I still stand by this film. Because to me this film is a gateway to all the things that people have been so frustrated and disappointed about, it is a film that in its very existence can forge the path for much broader and deeper representation or discussion. You will not be able to overturn all Asian stereotypes or perfectly represent all Asians overnight, it is an ongoing process that begins by giving the "asian-face" more airtime. Plus I thought the way females were portrayed in this film has been misconstrued and under-evaluated. Just saying.

Watch the film and see what you think.

I'm confused by the criticism of this movie by other users - this wasn't made for people who want to be rich & glamorous, it literally showed how shallow & void the overly-rich & indulgent were. You were supposed to feel disgusted by them at many points in the film. But it was less about the flashy cars & parties, & more about the relationship between a girl & her boyfriend's family, as well as the identity crises that arise for an immigrant in America.

As I was going to the movies the other night to see BlackkKlansman, a woman stopped me. She was an Asian woman. She looked at me sheepishly and said, "Pardon me, I've never been to the movies before. Would you help me buy my ticket?" I assisted her on the machine. She was so grateful, smiled, and shook my hand as she walked into her showing of Crazy Rich Asians. This is why minority representation in Hollywood is important.

Crazy Rich Asians tells the classic Cinderella story and takes it to modern times. Boy meets girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy turns out to be rich as hell. The film indulges in all of the luxuries from Kevin Kwan's novel, on which the film is adapted. There's the first class flights, the expensive weddings, and other various obvious showings of that great Asian wealth that Yeung family has procured. The real twist here is that the film features the first all Asian cast in a Hollywood film in over 25 years.

Crazy Rich Asians opens brilliantly with the perfect middle finger to all of the racism and backlash it has received. A racist hotel manager refuses to believe that the Yeung family has enough money to stay in the hotel. It shows the family scared, all huddle in the phone booth outside as rain falls upon them. When the family returns, entirely drenched, they are now the owners and proprietors of the hotel, as Eleanor Young (Micheel Yeoh) smiles to the audience. It is the perfect opening to a film that takes on such a difficult yet amazing task of inclusion and diversity.

The film has its moments of absolute brilliance as previously mentioned. Seeing Asian culture and sensibilities portrayed in such an honorable and non-stereotypical way is refreshing. However, the film failed to escape from the classic romantic comedy tropes that we have seen time and times again as viewers. The leading lady is pretty, but not gorgeous. She is insecure about how she presents to her boyfriend, who is ungodly attractive and has been with tons of beautiful, yet interpersonally unappealing women. He finds the one he wants, despite their differences in social class and standing. All along the way, the girl is increasing her external beauty, as a total loss of complete feminism. This tells the female viewer that if you aren't wearing the right clothes, and look the part, you have no success at love. All along the way, the oddball, yet humorous and encouraging friend steals every scene as the far more interesting and in-depth character. This isn't to say that Awkwafina isn't absolutely brilliant at her role, and doesn't have one of the brightest young futures of anyone in show business, but it feels overplayed.

The madcap insanity of this movie, followed by its basic poignancy is something to be appreciated. The film has been a smash hit at the box office, proving that diversity really does sell. Pay attention, Hollywood! Overall, Crazy Rich Asians is an enjoyable movie, but no great feat to write home about.

Grade (7.5/10)