Joy Ride

I was cackling and guffawing through this. I could predict every plot point and yet I wasn't bored at all. A by-the-numbers raunchy comedy that worked.

Hsu has been a roll. From her ATT commercials, to Mrs Maisel, to Everything EVerywhere, and now this, she's starting be a must-watch star for her comedic stuff. The other cast members I hadn't seen before but they were all pretty good.

I think one of the reasons, this worked for me was I know people like this. There are two people in my office who kinda of act like these characters, the KPOP nut and the stoner art chick.

Worth the price of admission.

As of this month, Malaysian American filmmaker Adele Lim has released her directorial debut called Joy Ride. Written by former Family Guy writers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao and co-produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the film has currently been garnering strong critical reviews and a fairly warm response from the general public. In a day and age where we are seeing a lot more representation in Asian American filmmaking, it's delightful to see a fun filled chick flick focusing on real people who are as messy and heartfelt as anyone else out there.

The film focuses on childhood friends Audrey Sullvian and Lolo Chen whose friendship comes to near turmoil on a business trip that leads into the origins of Audrey's real life family, all the while conflicting with the lives and careers of their friends and family. With the film establishing Audrey and Lolo's longtime friendship and contrasting differences, with one trying to discover themselves as a mature hard working lawyer and the other being a raunchy aspiring artist, arguably the most notable themes in Joy Ride deal with identity crisis and cultural expectations. In addition to the struggles of Lolo's quirky K-pop obsessed cousin Deadeye and Audrey's former college roommate turned popular Chinese actress Kat, the amount of conflicts the leads share as Asian American women of different backgrounds makes for a genuinely intriguing watch. Aided by a lot of hysterically energetic banter between Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu, one can see how much heart was elevated through an otherwise crazy thrill ride as far as raunchy comedies go these days.

Speaking of raunchy, perhaps the biggest selling point for the whole movie has to be the wacky hijink raunch factor as opposed to the heart. While there are a lot of observational jabs and one liners directed towards people based on race and gender, most of the humor relies on the shock value our leads get themselves into as they encounter one intense obstacle after another. Complete with full body cringe takes and raw sexual banter, there is almost no stoppage of comical situations to enhance the viewing experience, even if some scenes are less tasteful than others. As far as the filmmaking is concerned, Lim knows how to balance the more laid back conversational moments between characters before allowing the scenery to hone in on multiple exterior locations and fast paced timing. Paul Yee's cinematography helps the most in generating some brightly colorful sequences to expose the richness of China and its many exterior wonders. As introspective as the movie can be from a character study point of view, it also knows when to just have fun with itself.

While it is hard to say if Joy Ride will appeal to all movie going audiences during the intense summer blockbuster season, there is just enough sincere heart and shock humor around this character driven sex comedy. If you're down for a more intensely hysterical gross out road trip comedy as opposed to the bigger adventure and action flicks out there now, this one will definitely be up your alley, regardless if you relate to the characters culturally or not. As far as what this film may do for the careers of its lead filmmakers and actors, here's hoping this unapologetically honest film will keep the momentum going for a while.

Not, like, a FLOOD of movies like this, but a couple more every now and then would be great. It's funny, it has heart, and it has good performances by the co-leads.

**ALSO, IT'S A COMEDY THAT'S RATED R, IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT ENTAILS THEN THAT'S ON YOU**

Yes, the humour is lewd. Yes, there's a lot of sexual references. Yes, there's even a vagina on full display! What else would you expect from an R rated comedy than adult humour like this? Granted, you might not expect a vagina to be on full display, but it's there. Deal with it.

Also, yeah sure, some of the acting (Sabrina Wu specifically) may not be 'professional' but this was their first actual acting gig and even Meryl Streep wasn't *Meryl Goddamn Streep* in her first role! The important part is that they absolutely nailed their role, especially the scene where they were explaining the "Deadeye" nickname. The rest of the cast were a joy (pun intended) and the chemistry between the four leads was awesome. Hell, the movie itself is awesome! It only lost a point or two because the last minute or so kinda felt really out of place to me...

Joy Ride (2023) is a raunchy and crude road comedy film directed by Adele Lim and starring Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu. The film follows four friends -- Audrey (Park), Lolo (Cola), Deadeye (Wu), and Kat (Hsu) -- as they travel across Asia in search of one of their birth mothers.

The film is a complete and utter mess. The humor is juvenile and offensive, the characters are unlikable and underdeveloped, and the plot is nonsensical. The film also has a serious problem with tone, veering wildly between crude comedy and serious drama.

The film's only saving grace is its cast, who do their best to make the material work. However, even their efforts are not enough to salvage this train wreck of a film.

Overall,Joy Ride is a terrible film that is not worth watching. I give it 1 star out of 10.

Here are some of the specific problems with the film:

The humor is juvenile and offensive. The film relies on cheap sex jokes and stereotypes, and it never seems to understand what is funny.

The characters are unlikable and underdeveloped. The four friends are all one-dimensional stereotypes, and they are never given any real depth or development.

The plot is nonsensical. The film's story is completely unbelievable, and it makes no sense.

The film has a serious problem with tone. The film veers wildly between crude comedy and serious drama, and it never seems to find a consistent tone.

If you're looking for a good comedy, I would recommend watching something else. Joy Ride is a complete waste of time.

Joy Ride is a solidly entertaining X-rated comedy that will be sure to give you a good laugh.

It follows a group of American-Chinese friends who travel to China for a business trip which quickly descends into chaos.

A road trip descending into chaos doesn't exactly sound original, and it isn't. The story is unlikely to blow you away with this one, but it does the job. It leaves plenty of room for good comedic setups, and has a couple of decent emotional kickers in there too. It's well paced and has good momentum throughout.

As mentioned it is sure to give you a laugh as there are plenty of laugh out loud moments. The comedy is often quite bold and brash, but there are some nice subtle moments thrown in too. The whole theatre was laughing out loud which is always a good sign.

The performances are all really good, with some brilliant comedic timing and line deliveries. The four characters complement each other well and have great chemistry which is so vital in a comedy.

My only real criticism is that it does try a little too hard with its comedy and at times it is crude just for the sake of being crude. I can see why, as for so long women weren't really granted the opportunity to operate in the R-rated comedy space, but there was maybe a little over-correction of that imbalance here, leading to some cheap gags.

Overall though I think this film is a blast. Fun characters, lots of laughs, engaging plot, great performances. Definitely one to watch for any comedy fans out there.