This buoyant movie is aping from so many of the bygone 50's romantic comedies that seems to be jammed into 90's but functions in the 2018's. The story is of Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), a perky New Yorker whose boyfriend has a friend who is getting married. This is Nick Young (Henry Golding), a fresh faced oddly optimistic Chinese mix from Singapore. He convinces Rachel to join him only to discover he is heir to a massive fortune.
And now the cattiness starts between Nick's mother played brilliantly (and coldly) by Michelle Yeoh and Rachel. But also Nick's relatives and friends who grew up with the guy.
It's hard to imagine any of them remaining friends past grade school, so for the most part, the writers Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, did a smart thing. She made them extended family. Which is what Asian families do. Friends aren't friends, they're extended relatives.
Wealth is grossly spread on this excursion. To an extent to where you really are sick of the extravagance (but I also say so with the royals, because essentially, that is who this family is).
The two young kids in love sidestep the messiness of pettiness and also attempt to curtail a very sticky moment of responsibility. Only, the resolution lacks a finale. If you're going to blast from the past, why not go corny all the way? Instead, none of this anchored in excess or wealth is going to eventually end well. Though we're led to believe, in a ridiculously corny "Titanic" seeing all the dead people end moment. Director Jon M. Chu nails that part. He doesn't care and neither does the script, and neither should the viewer. This movie is a bygone feel good, don't think too hard romantic comedy. And it IS refreshing but also still, it might've dug a hole too deep for some not to come back from.
Either way, a fun diversion, which...I have to say, makes rich Asians look pretty fast and furious. Thank God we didn't go down that road. I'm pretty sure the vastness of the screen is going to humble a lot of people. It looks great for digital origination. It works well on the whole.
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