The Reel Rejects - CRAZY RICH ASIANS (2018) IS AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT!! MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!

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Starting point is 00:01:10 All right, guys, if you're listening to us on Apple or Spotify, we say that because we have an Apple or Spotify account. That's where these reviews podcasts go. Leave us a rating. If you're listening to us on YouTube, leave a like if you haven't done so already. Tara Erickson, the whitest woman. here of the channel. What did you think about crazy rich Asians? I love this movie. I feel like it is the story of a self-made girl being raised by a self-made woman coming into a circumstance that

Starting point is 00:01:48 I mean being self-made means she made it to being a professor and her mom was also self-made, right? and then her walking into a situation that seems so far out of reach for her in meeting these crazy rich Asians and his mother. But his mother is also a self-made woman

Starting point is 00:02:11 who just ideally made a really large sacrifice and didn't actually get to live out her life like our main girl would. And I think that showing that

Starting point is 00:02:26 It was such a fun journey. And we didn't see, obviously, the similarities in the beginning, really at all. We're just seeing like, oh, my God, wait, what? He's rich. They're in love. Oh, wait, her friend. Oh, my God, these other people, they're unhappy. And, like, they basically showed us a lot of examples of how the extremes of having money would do.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Like, the rich guy that on the helicopters, but he hasn't really found love. He's just, like, farting through life. and then the guy who feels really overshadowed by his very rich wife, so he ends up cheating on her and sort of throwing it away because he feels very belittled. He couldn't even just like let his wife shine. You're just like, it's fine, you're the moneymaker. I think that all of these side plots didn't distract. It just added to the main idea that they're trying to get across,

Starting point is 00:03:16 that there's a lot of ways that having this a massive amount of money can change your life for the good and the very. very bad um and i i really loved i loved how this was shot i love the pacing i love the music i am not surprised that john got the job to direct wicked like this movie is great yeah i forget what else he's direct every time i see he's directed something i usually end up liking it yeah yeah i mean with what you're taught i wrote down societal pressures that happen with wealth as like what you're totally yes of how as a guy there there is often debate like it's usually expect at least out here in the states right it's expected the man is the one who should be the one

Starting point is 00:03:58 who provides right the money i mean there are some marriages or relationships or it's not the case and it's okay but right that can do something to because of how society raises meant to be like you have to be the breadwinner and some there are some people who really believe that there's some couples who do believe that is the way it should be absolutely and even though like jemma chan's character astrid was okay with it not being that way right he was not it still gnaws at him and makes him feel less than yeah which is a terrible feeling um but even to the extent of protecting the family image and the i forget what in henry golding's family's the name is already but protect young the nick young is his name yeah protecting the young family image of like you can't

Starting point is 00:04:45 marry this rachel woman because look at her past and where she comes from and what this would do to our family of how you know like this idea of protecting wealth right can often come at the expense of sacrificing your own integrity yeah your own happiness too and her character goes on this journey of being challenged with something where she can essentially sacrifice her integrity but she she doesn't she never does and having to face up to all these things of like tradition versus more than just American, just being adaptable and making changes. Like Henry Golding, he's not American, but he's not exactly just someone from Signapur either. Like he grew up in London. However, I like the way this movie handles that because it shows that

Starting point is 00:05:42 it's not like we need to get rid of tradition entirely. It's not that everything in tradition is bad. But it's okay to change. It's okay to adapt. at the end of the day, like happiness and love can be a very important thing. Like, I like this sort of internal journey that you see Michelle Yo's character going on throughout this film. If she really sticks it to Rachel throughout the whole movie. Totally. But at the very end, she ends up realizing that her son's happiness is more important than anything else. Because at the end, she keeps talking about, like, you're not what's good for Nick.

Starting point is 00:06:19 and trying to protect Nick but really she's just like protecting herself and this other shit that doesn't matter and they even keep that a constant thread going of the grandma she seems really loving and everything but then when she finds out she's like no we can't have rachel be a part of the family and then you see that grandma put down michel yo and this is part of her breaking that chain now right of not because it's kind of like a generational trauma that keeps occurring even if you're married into it like the generational trauma continues so I think it's just very well layered while being

Starting point is 00:06:54 an incredibly fun movie agree like I also feel that Michelle Yo's character finally met her match within Rachel especially at the very end we see it very literally on the table that she has met her match in more than

Starting point is 00:07:09 a multitude of ways but she she just wasn't willing to give her the credit it because of the background that she is not responsible for. Like, that's not her fault that, like, you know, her mom married an abusive guy and fell in love with someone else and ended up getting pregnant. Like, that has nothing to do with her, but it's unfortunate that we hold these standards to people and in looking at their families.

Starting point is 00:07:36 If your family is, you know, a little bit off or has done things differently, that you are responsible for that in some way when it's. really it's not a culmination of any of your choices it's just what you were given um and i think in that moment especially with the game us getting a literal game theory match that the mom had finally seen that she is the best match i think overall not only for the family to grow and recognize and learn but also for her son yeah yeah i think this movie handles everything it set out to do really really well i like the flow of the movie a lot yeah oh god the pacing is just perfect i was think just thinking about it it starts off um okay like you're watching

Starting point is 00:08:30 like a like a general romantic comedy and then we get thrown into the luxurious lavish lifestyle because like her encounter with michelle yo and the conflicts that start arising that doesn't really happen to like the midpoint of the film so everything before the midpoint is kind of like getting lost in in the style of the movie yeah like a lot of the text looks like an action movie totally there's this like old school vibe to it like you're just having a blast there's an energetic like funness yeah then eventually it things start to take a stride where it starts becoming more grounded and more real and less like cool editing less less on the surface of what we're expecting this this picture of crazy rich Asians to be and gets real yeah i mean

Starting point is 00:09:23 right to the with the confrontations with the mom with michel yo with uh the way she's treated at the bachelorette party like it's still will dip in and out like when she's getting the dress on for the wedding but it for the most part the last half of this takes a much more serious grounded approach and i like the way they handle that because they do get you kind of absorb into the fun of it but then when they want to be fun again, especially with Aquafina, that's kind of what I noticed they would do is, in the last half, they were a little more dramatic

Starting point is 00:09:54 than the first half. Yeah. They were, like, a lot more dramatic, but then they would use Aquafina to to lighten it up. Yeah, to relieve some of the tension. So I feel, and I feel like she just really helped break that tension in such a natural way. Like, Aquafina was hilarious. She was great.

Starting point is 00:10:10 She's so freaking. I know she could be debatable for people a lot of the time. On this movie, she's fabulous. I think she is. so freaking funny this movie. Yeah. And I think when it got really real is they made that switch right sort of in the middle where she's at the wedding.

Starting point is 00:10:26 And that is when you go what? Like I'm really feeling stuff between them, them looking at each other. This movie does a really good job of throwing us into what life would be like in this family going to these parties the point of view what that would

Starting point is 00:10:42 feel like. And then also the point of view of being in love with like how they feel about each other they give us that in the wedding with no words they just show us that and you feel that so when that match happens with the mom and that game happens it's like you also feel heartbroken

Starting point is 00:11:01 like I got teared up when she walks away and then her mom stands up it's so nice that her mom is there for her but her sacrificing all of that because of the picture that they showed us that we also believe that they're made for each other. We're in the same position as her.

Starting point is 00:11:20 And they make us feel that way. They did just a very good job of that. Yeah, I think that Mahjong scene is so great at that ending scene. Because I think it works on so many layers without them saying anything. And there's a lot of ways to kind of have a takeaway of it. A lot of that conversation is about sacrifice, of course, because that's what Michelle Yo keeps coming back to. And in that moment, when she is seeing Rachel,

Starting point is 00:11:46 And her mom, she is looking, like, A, it's, it could be a recognition. I've been very judgmental. Yeah. B, too, like, this woman is a, she's, she did sacrifice everything for her child. Exactly. And Michelle Yo has to learn what to sacrifice for her son now. Yep. And so I think the inspiration of that is very profound.

Starting point is 00:12:07 I think Constance Wu, as Rachel, is an incredibly strong performance. Her character arc, the way. she handles the comedy every bit of uncomfortable interaction that she has there's there's usually a lot in the family dynamics there's constantly like while there's a smile going on there's something else going on underneath the surface yeah underlying awkwardness yeah i think she's really really great in this movie um and she she does carry the film like this is her movie this is her story and she carries it really well oh she did a great job and you find yourself like genuinely rooting for her yeah i think that's why

Starting point is 00:12:46 I got teared up, you know, like towards the end there of like, oh, okay. And then, you know, when he finally, you know, is on the plane and they're saying like, yes. And then we see at the very end when she looks at the mom and they have that nod. I'm like, oh, it's so moving because we were so rooting for her to get what she wants because there's no reason for her not to. Yeah, and also the Mahjong sing is the moment that Aquafino was talking about was not getting liked but being respected. And that's what she earns in the end is her respect. Absolutely. And that's the biggest thing that you could do. That's a hard thing to earn, you know.

Starting point is 00:13:27 And Henry Golding is very charming. He's very charming. He's a very charming actor. Good looking guy. Very good looking guy. And it's, I think I really do, I think I got that right that this was his first acting role was like playing a character. It's wild. And to have the main guy role and to actually seem very natural. Like, although a lot of the scenes don't require like the most insane emotional depth. Not, that's not discrediting the performance because he still comes across incredibly natural.

Starting point is 00:13:56 Yeah. And a lot of the scenes. Absolutely. And very, very genuine as well. It's a rather sincere performance. And that's really hard to do in your first, like, man, it's your first, like, it's a leading role. Yeah. I was thinking like, oh, him being a home.

Starting point is 00:14:12 really plays to like you you really just have to be yourself when you're a host to be a good one so I think that played into his strengths of just like just be yourself and then hopefully you can memorize lines and get it get it across but what I think was most impressive to me is the genuineness that you feel once this movie takes a dramatic turn he didn't have a lot of that that depth he wasn't holding that that's Michelle yo and Constance Will more so um and and But he did have some moments there where I was like, oh, if you were like not really in it, but he felt grounded. And sometimes that's even hard for like actors who've been doing it for a minute to feel grounded in like on camera. So I think he did a really impressive job.

Starting point is 00:15:00 And that may also be John Wu as like also a great director and obviously got, yes, John M. Chew, sorry. Got him there in that place, which I think is. great. Yeah. John Hsu's a fantastic director. I thought the movie was edited so freaking well. Like they span so many different locations and you're coming around to so many different storylines and it's really easy to feel like this

Starting point is 00:15:24 this storyline deserves more time. I especially feel like for the Gemma Chan story. A story like that and usually in this kind of movie would be the one that you walk away going I feel like we needed more time to develop this story. But they managed to actually make it very impactful

Starting point is 00:15:40 without it feeling like you needed more. Absolutely. I mean, I, like no joke, I would be very surprised if I didn't see an article where John M. Chu says that he is not a fan of love actually. The pacing and the tone and the storylines, this is not exact. Like, don't, like, but you get the vibe that I'm like, and there's some things that happen, meaning when she tells her husband I can't even compare you to a man

Starting point is 00:16:14 right that whole speech bravo the speech in love actually where it's basically the same thing and she tells her husband in a certain way it it just reminded me there's a lot of things that remind me I would I would love to be like John are you a fan of love actually and I guarantee you he'd be like yeah yeah you know what I really like about the way they wrote this too

Starting point is 00:16:36 is that they didn't ever I never felt like they were talking to me about the culture no never it just showed us yeah they like the dot even even sometimes the dialogue does become like self-aware especially an aqua fina's character yeah it it never felt like they were breaking to be like this is what it's like we're gonna teach you what it's like or here's the difference between America and Singapore it really just told its story and it let it its characters sound the way the characters sound. Agreed. Without it feeling like they're ever trying to do a stand-up comedy bit

Starting point is 00:17:13 towards me or educate me. I agree. You just like let it unfolded, let the story happen. And I thought that was actually a really great way to approach it when you're doing a movie that has Asian people behind the camera, in front of the camera. It's really easy to take that opportunity to be like, well, it's time to teach people, but they didn't actually do that. And that's actually a stronger way to like kind of inform and teach people.

Starting point is 00:17:36 I agree. There wasn't any weird exposition in this movie where you're like, oh, that's really exposition. We didn't need it. They did it in a really smart way. They trusted the audience's intelligence to be to know like, we don't need a bunch of words in you to tell us how it is. Just show us. Yeah, I think a lot of the very visual storytelling moments can kind of can go overlooked here. But that's a big part of what actually allows this passage of time and the amount of storytelling they're doing in different locations to actually really be. be effective in work is because those other moments where there's not dialogue are actually really well handled yeah so yeah I loved it I thought that was great I don't remember jack shit about that it must have been high or something when I watched because there's a great movie well the thing is when you watch movies in the theaters or at home like when we're watching here we're we're semi because we're commenting on it as we're watching yeah so we're we're paying attention a little more so it becomes more ingrained in your memory because there's a consistent reflection on what you're going through.

Starting point is 00:18:41 Yeah, we're not high on dike, broken popcorn and red vines. We're not just like watch it and leave and be like, that was fun, let's go. So I feel like now it'll really stick with me. And it kind of dawned, I mean, I'm like, why do I forget movies? But I remember when I watch here. And then that's what hit me. Anyway, yeah, what do you guys think about crazy rich Asians? Leave your thoughts down below.

Starting point is 00:19:02 I don't know. I feel like they were setting up a sequel in some way. but I also feel like they don't need a sequel. No, they don't need a sequel. I think they were just trying to show us like she's going to be great. She's going to be, it's fantastic that she left her husband, she's doing all the right things, and look at her go. What a pig.

Starting point is 00:19:18 You're a tiny pig, little man, little boy. Anyway, thank you guys. We'll see you soon. Get your reject sweater. Yes, please. Bye. Bye.

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The Reel Rejects - CRAZY RICH ASIANS (2018) IS AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT!! MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!

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