Romance comedy Crazy Rich Asians is a watershed hit that could change the way Asian faces are perceived in Hollywood. [Photo provided to China Daily]
A Hollywood comedy, which has broken barriers, is set for its mainland debut, Xu Fan reports.
For most critics in the West, the romance comedy Crazy Rich Asians is a watershed hit that could change the way Asian faces are perceived in Hollywood.
The movie-a modern Cinderella story-is the first major Hollywood studio film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years since The Joy Luck Club in 1993, and is set to open across the Chinese mainland theaters.
The $30 million movie, which has pulled in $174 million in North America in the past two months, is now the highest-grossing romance comedy in the world's largest movie market in a decade.
Aside from its commercial success, Crazy Rich Asians-which opens in China on Friday-has also received mainly positive reviews on review sites, exemplified by 92 percent critic reviews reckoning it "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.2 points out of 10 on IMDb.
Both websites are barometers of popularity used as significant reference points by Chinese film fans.
Besides, the story has a very Chinese flavor with the super-rich in the film having Chinese heritage.
Romance comedy Crazy Rich Asians is a watershed hit that could change the way Asian faces are perceived in Hollywood. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The luxury houses featured in the film, with exquisite carvings on wooden doors represent a traditional architecture aesthetic rooted in ancient China.
The movie also features a string of typical Chinese activities-from making dumplings to playing mahjong.
In the film adapted from Singaporean American writer Kevin Kwan's 2013 best-selling novel of the same title, Rachel Chu, an economics professor from New York University, accepts an invitation from her boyfriend Nick Young to accompany him to Singapore to attend his best friend's wedding ceremony.
But the trip soon turns into a "battle", as Nick is actually the most fancied heir of one of Singapore's wealthiest families.
To keep him, the young woman from a Chinese immigrant family has to face off with Nick's controlling mother Eleanor and a bunch of his super-rich acquaintances who consider her a gold-digger.
Except for Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng, who plays Eleanor, the rest of the cast-including the two lead actors-are all comparatively unknown to Chinese moviegoers.
Constance Wu, best known for the ABC comedy series Fresh Off the Boat, plays Chu while British Malaysian actor Henry Golding plays Nick.
For Yeoh, who recently toured Beijing to promote the film with director Jon M. Chu and producer John Penotti, the film is a milestone as she says that Asian actors have been fighting inequality in Hollywood for decades.
She sees the success of Crazy Rich Asians as opening the door a bit wider, adding: "To have a token Asian face in a (Hollywood) movie is not enough. We are not satisfied with that. We want our stories to be told as well."
Romance comedy Crazy Rich Asians is a watershed hit that could change the way Asian faces are perceived in Hollywood. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Yeoh is one of the most recognizable Asian faces in Hollywood with hits like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha.
But for Jon M. Chu, the director, the film is more than conveying a message.
"It doesn't have to be about being Asian, Chinese or American. It is just about all the different pieces that make up your unique identity," he says.
The director, whose last hit was Now You See Me 2, one of the 10 top-grossing imported films in China in 2016, adds: "It's just about understanding that in order to love someone, you have to love yourself first and all the things that you are."
Meanwhile, despite the lavish lifestyle in the film, the director sees things differently.
"Ultimately, this film is not about being wealthy. In fact, that is the least interesting part of the book to me.
"The story that we wanted to tell from the very beginning is about an outsider coming in and then finding her own self-worth," he explains.
But will the Chinese mainland audience buy this idea?
As of Tuesday, Crazy Rich Asians had seen its bookings total 847,000 yuan ($121.900), according to live box-office tracker Maoyan.
And using an index to reflect an upcoming film's popularity, the presale threshold can reach 10 million yuan or more, says the Beijing-based analyst Jiang Yong.
From left: The film's producer John Penotti, actresses Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng and Fiona Xie and director Jon M. Chu take selfies with audiences during the Beijing promotional event. [Photo provided to China Daily]
On douban.com, China's most popular review site, those who have already watched the film have scored it 6.3 points out of 10, with most criticizing the plot, the cliched ending and its lack of focus on Asian cultural complexity.
"The film makes you constantly laugh. The backdrop music tracks are all former popular Chinese-language songs ... However, the story is actually not about Asians, it's about riches," says netizen Yangcong Xixi, whose words are marked useful by more than 1,140 netizens to top the film's short reviews on Douban.
