Crazy Rich Asians is the first major Hollywood movie with a principally Asian cast since The Joy Luck Club, in 1993. With 25 years of whitewashing controversies looming over the production, director Jon M. Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets, Now See You Me 2) vowed to cast “amazing Asian actors [in] EVERY SINGLE ROLE.” He lived up to his promise, too. Based on Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel of the same name, Crazy Rich Asians stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh.
Fresh Off the Boat standout Wu plays Rachel, a Chinese American economics professor, who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend, Nick (Golding), to attend his best friend’s wedding. While visiting, she learns that “he is not only the scion of one of the country’s wealthiest families but also one of its most sought-after bachelors,” according to the official plot synopsis. “Being on Nick’s arm puts a target on Rachel’s back, with jealous socialites and, worse, Nick’s own disapproving mother taking aim. And it soon becomes clear that while money can’t buy love, it can definitely complicate things.”
Come for the history (and to prove to Warner Bros. and the other studios that it shouldn’t take a quarter-decade for another film with an Asian cast), stay for the film’s entertaining opulence and Constance Wu, who’s the best.
Crazy Rich Asians opens on August 17.
