Asian Persuasion

Jhett Tolentino is a Filipino theater producer. He's the second Filipino to win the Tony Award. He won for Best Play, Best Revival of a Play and Best Musical. The latter two he won on the same night at the 68th Tony Awards in 2014. He won Best Musical Theater Album at the 59th Grammy Awards for producing the album for The Color Purple (2015). He produced an independent film called Lingua Franca (2020), which was about a Philippine-American, trans woman. However, this film is Tolentino's feature directorial debut. It's a sweet and unassuming, romantic comedy.

Ever since the success of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), it seemed as if Hollywood might open the door to more romantic comedies and more films that featured Asian or Asian American leads in the theatrical space. Streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video picked up the slack, such as with Always Be My Maybe (2019) and The Half of It (2020). The Lifetime Channel produced its first Asian American romantic comedy called A Sugar & Spice Holiday (2020) and so did Hallmark Channel with Christmas at the Golden Dragon (2020). However, another Asian American romantic comedy to hit theaters hasn't really happened. As Sean Baker, the director of the Oscar-winning Anora (2024), said, the theatrical release is very important and should be encouraged.

Dante Basco (But I'm a Cheerleader and Hook) stars as Mickey de los Santos, a Filipino-American who lives in New York City. He's the owner of a coffee shop called "Da Fili Beans." He's recently divorced and he's sharing custody with his ex-wife. His business is struggling financially and he now has alimony payments, which he feels he can't afford. Through flashbacks, we learn how Mickey met his ex-wife, how they fell in love and ultimately how they broke up. Yet, it's clear that he didn't want to break up, even though it was arguably his fault. It becomes clear that he still loves her. He becomes swamped with his debts, including child support and rent, and that becomes his motivation for the immediate future.

KC Concepcion (Boy Golden: Shoot to Kill and Forever and a Day) co-stars as Avery Chua, the ex-wife in question. She's a very successful woman, perhaps not too successful, if she's supposed to be getting alimony from Mickey. Yet, during the divorce meeting, she doesn't seem to be too demanding. It's almost as if she doesn't want to divorce either. Later, we see her living in what looks like a fancy or upscale apartment. We see her dressed in designer clothes. She seems to work in the fashion industry and even has an assistant. She has very trendy and stylish friends who take her shopping in what looks like a luxury boutique. From what it appears, Avery should be paying Mickey alimony and not the other way round.

What screenwriter, Mike Ang, in his feature debut, crafts is not really too much concerned with the set up. That set up seems instead to be just an excuse to get us into another modern-day adaptation of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) story. Most adaptations of the Edmond Rostand work will typically have some spin on the basic concept. Alice Wu's The Half of It was also an adaptation of Rostand's play, which was about a loving but self-doubting man who communicates to the woman that he loves through a more handsome suitor who also is interested in that same woman. Rostand had basically concocted an early form of what's now known as catfishing. Wu's spin on that concept was making Cyrano not be a loving but self-doubting man but instead a teenage, Asian American girl who was essentially a lesbian. Ang's spin is that Mikey who is this film's Cyrano is instead the ex-husband of the woman being pursued.

Paolo Montalban (Descendants: The Rise of Red and Cinderella) plays Lee Kwan Prince, the more handsome suitor who is endemic to Rostand's love triangle. He's the puppet in this equation, an awkward, financial analyst who works on Wall Street. He's better at talking about numbers and the Dow Jones than he is talking to women. Montalban is probably best known for playing a Prince Charming type. It's not clear if the filmmakers had Montalban in mind for this character, but having him play a character with the surname of "Prince" and play against that type is somewhat clever.

Lee wants to use Mickey who is Avery's ex-husband to romance Avery. Mickey isn't exactly Will Smith in Hitch (2005) where he's coaching Lee. Mickey instead goes with Lee on dates with Avery and feeds lines to Lee through a wireless earpiece. Avery doesn't realize that Lee is a literal puppet through which Mickey communicates. There's a lot of complications and a lot of humor that could've been mined from this premise. The only thing we get is Mickey dressing up in disguise during one of Lee's dinner dates with Avery. To the screenplay's credit, it doesn't drag out the premise, but, at the same time, it doesn't elicit or wring much comedy out of the premise either. The story goes quickly in and out.

Kevin Kreider rounds out the cast as Caspian Jang, the Korean-American best friend to Mickey. He's probably in his late 30's, early 40's, yet he acts like an older brother and sometimes like a frat boy. He works as a bartender and seems only concerned with hooking up with beautiful women. Yet, he only dates White women specifically. The film doesn't really have an interest in delving into that aspect of Caspian. If one wants an exploration of that idea of Asian men dating White women, you can check out Randall Park's Shortcomings (2023). Kreider is best known for the reality show Bling Empire (2021), but he's mainly the comic relief here, a bit of a himbo.

Despite being a himbo, we don't get much sexuality in this film. The most is a scene where Kreider is shirtless, and another where Concepcion shows some cleavage, but we don't see any characters kiss at any point. The film is very chaste. In that regard, Basco and Concepcion only get one scene or sequence where the two get a chance to show any chemistry between each other. For anyone who was a child of the 90's, you most likely remember Spielberg's Hook and how dynamic Basco was, even as a teenager. Here, he's more a muted, girl dad. It's a different and more subtle performance that Asian American men rarely get.

"Asian Persuasion" has some outdated dialogue and utter predictability, but this romantic comedy gets by on earnest charm. It's a story about an ex-husband who plays marital matchmaker for his ex-wife so his alimony payments can end. The cast members have believable chemistry with each other, which makes up for some uneven acting.

Directed by Jhett Tolentino and written by Mike Ang, "Asian Persuasion" is Tolentino's feature-film directorial debut. The movie takes place in New York City and is centered around a group of Filipino American friends. A lot of the movie has characteristics (including the music score) that's reminiscent of a family sitcom, but some of the language (cursing) and some of the subject matter (sex talk) are adult-oriented.

"Asian Persuasion" begins by showing coffee shop owner Mickey De La Santos (played by Dante Basco) signing divorce papers to officially end his marriage to fashion designer Avery Chua (played by KC Concepcion), who is seated with her attorney across the table from Mickey. Mickey, who doesn't have a divorce attorney, let Avery have everything she wanted in the divorce settlement. He barely wants to look at the divorce papers before he signs them.

Mickey and Avery have a 10-year-old daughter together named Sam (played by Scarlet Sherr), who is inquisitive and adorable. Avery has full custody of Sam, while Mickey has visitation rights. It's later revealed that Mickey and Avery's marriage ended because he was resentful that her career has been more successful than his. Mickey's dream was to open his own restaurant, but he gave up on that dream sometime after Avery was born.

After the divorce papers are signed, Mickey's best friend Caspian "Cass" Jang (played by Kevin Kreider), a commitment-phobic bachelor who works as a bartender, mildly scolds Mickey for not having a divorce attorney because Cass thinks Mickey got a raw deal in the divorce settlement. About half of Mickey's income will go to pay for Avery's alimony. Avery also has other expenses, such as child support and rent for his small apartment and small coffee shop in Queens.

Mickey and Cass celebrate Mickey's divorce by getting drunk and stoned on marijuana at Mickey's apartment while Sam is asleep in a nearby bedroom. The next morning, Mickey finds out that in his intoxicated state of mind the night before, he created a dating app profile for Avery. Her account already has several replies from potential suitors.

Cass thinks it's an opportunity for Mickey to find a new husband for Avery so Mickey will no longer have to pay alimony. Mickey is persuaded to give this idea a try. They find a potential suitor for Avery when a Wall Street executive named Lee-Kwan Prince (played by Paolo Montalban), who goes by the nickname Lee, responds to Avery's profile. Lee is admittedly socially awkward.

Mickey pretends to be Avery online, and shows up for the blind date to meet Lee, who is shocked and disgusted when Mickey tells Lee about his plan. But then, Lee changes his mind because he's very attracted to Avery, and Mickey has offered to coach Lee on how to win over Avery. Mickey advises Lee on where Lee should take Avery on dates.

It leads to some very corny slapstick scenes of Mickey feeding Lee things to say through an earpiece in date conversations with Avery. Mickey, sometimes accompanied by Cass, does surveillance of these dates from afar in ridiculous disguises. In one of the disguises, Mickey wears a big hat, sunglasses and very large, fake-looking moustache.

The movie has flashbacks to the relationship that Mickey and Avery had before their marriage fell apart, beginning with their "meet cute" at an outdoor party where Mickey accidentally set a Tiki bar on fire. These flashbacks (which include scenes from their marriage) show that Mickey and Avery met when they were both college students and found out that they had a lot in common. Avery and Mickey had shared goals of being successful in their respective chosen careers.

Avery strived to be a fashion designer with her own product line and fulfilled that goal. Mickey, who has culinary skills, had ambitions to be a successful restaurateur, but those ambitions fell by the wayside and he became lazy when it came to his career and his marriage. Avery tried to encourage him to still pursue his dreams, but Mickey interpreted this encouragement as nagging.

The couple was overjoyed by the birth of Sam, a child who was very much wanted by Avery and Mickey. The couple also weathered some tough times, such as the deaths of Mickey's parents. A breaking point in the marriage was when Mickey became verbally abusive to Avery during an argument and called her a "bitch."

These flashbacks bring some emotional resonance to a movie that is sometimes a little shallow in its presentation. Some of the supporting characters are very underdeveloped and just say their lines and then are never seen again. For example, Avery's mother Imelda Chua (played by Fe de los Reyes) comes to visit, but Imelda's scenes are so inconsequential, her scenes could've been cut from the movie, and it wouldn't have made a difference to the story. Cass has an ex-girlfriend named Helene Dubois (played by Geneva Carr) who is seen in the beginning and the end of the movie, with not much context to their relationship except that they broke up because Cass didn't want to commit to dating her exclusively.

However, other supporting characters are better-developed. Avery runs her fashion business with her best friend Lisa (played by Celia Au), a bachelorette who talks openly about her sex life. Au has terrific comedic timing, and her performance is one of the movie's highlights. Kreider also does well in his role as Mickey's best friend Cass. Basco and Concepcion do good jobs in showing nuances in their performances as Mickey (who isn't always as goofy as he appears to be) and Avery (who isn't always as serious as she appears to be), who are navigating their lives after their divorce.

The movie falters when it has some scenes that look like they came from a 1990s sitcom. For example, there's a scene where Mickey chastises a teenager he knows named Dennis (played by Imani Hanson) because Dennis is selling candy outside of Mickey's coffee shop. Mickey has asked Dennis before to stop loitering in front of the shop. Mickey says to Dennis in a good-natured tone: "You better check yourself before you wreck yourself, Kris Kross." That's a line what might have worked in 1992, when hip-hop duo Kris Kross was a big deal, but this movie is supposed to take place in the 2020s.

"Asian Persuasion" gets the job done fairly well, in terms of what people can expect for a low-budget romantic comedy with this concept. There are some delightful references to Filipino culture and Asian American identities, as well as candid talk about interracial relationships, such as Cass' admitted preference for dating white women. The movie avoids being too saccharine sweet by having some raunchy jokes. Ultimately, "Asian Persuasion" is mostly light-hearted entertainment that is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food for people inclined to like romantic comedies about finding and keeping true love.

"Asian Persuasion"

Directed by Jhett Tolentino

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy film "Asian Persuasion features a predominantly Asian group of people (with some white people and African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A divorced father schemes to find a new husband for his ex-wife so he doesn't have to pay her any more alimony.

Culture Audience: "Asian Persuasion" will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie's headliners and old-fashioned but likable romantic comedies.

Scatena & Rosner Films released "Asian Persuasion" in select U. S. cinemas on March 21, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on May 27, 2025.

I honestly didn't expect to feel so seen by a rom-com. Each of the characters was relatable, and my husband and I caught ourselves laughing in between jokes bc we've experienced people like this in real life. It's more than a rom-com. It's a fresh take on being a FilAm, and I highly encourage everyone to watch this film.

I appreciate that this didn't punch down on any female characters. It's a relief to not see women portrayed as shrill or mean-spirited. As a Filipina, It's refreshing. Bonus points for not making the Filipino accent the center of the humor. It's a tired trope, and I'm glad that it was nowhere to be found here.

With a combination of comedy, feel-good moments, and likable characters (even if they don't always do the right thing :)), Asian Persuasion put a smile on my face. It's an enjoyable experience for people of all kinds, Asian or not, but Asian Americans, in particular, feel seen and heard. Jhett Tolentino's directorial debut is successful in visual story telling and Mike Ang's personal, yet exaggerated and lighthearted writing brings his personal experience to life in a digestible and satisfying way. It's extremely hard not to root for the main cast even in their morally gray endeavors which is a testament to the charisma that comes through the screen. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience.

Asian Persuasion is a romantic comedy about a recently divorced couple, where the ex-husband sets up his ex-wife to remarry, in an attempt to get out from under an onerous alimony decree.

Will husband's zany plan to love-coach the new man dating his ex-wife work? Or will the exes get back together? How does Kevin Kreider (the hottie from Bling Empire in his scripted acting debut) figure into all of this?

I won't reveal any spoilers here, but I can confirm this is a rom com through and through. There are multiple characters falling in and out of love - and even Prince Charming (actor Paolo Montalban from the Cinderella reboot has a supporting role).

That said, the real love story is with food, NY and childhood dreams. There are delicious shots of ube pancakes sprinkled throughout the film. There are also close-ups of street signs indicating Filipino parts of Queens, NY, as well as other NYC landmarks such as the Museum of the Moving Image or Chinese Tuxedo. Finally, both lead characters are creatives (ex-husband is a chef, ex-wife is a fashion designer), and their childhood aspirations figure prominently in why they fell in and out of love.

Asian Persuasion is a fun, multi-layered film with a tight ensemble cast.