Singapore fling disappoints
Graeme Tuckett
In New York City, a young economics professor is dating a handsome young fellow academic. She – Rachel, played by Constance Wu – comes from a single parent, working-class family. He – Nick, played by Henry Golding – is heir to a vast property empire in Singapore, with family ties to the island that go back over a century.
Not that he has bothered to tell Rachel any of this. Despite the fact they have been dating for ‘‘over a year’’, the first inkling Rachel has that her beau is not what he seems is when he casually ushers her into the first-class cabin for a flight to Singapore and a date with destiny at a massive society wedding.
In Singapore, Rachel will be introduced to Nick’s ferociously protective mother (played perfectly by Michelle Yeoh) and an assortment of his friends and family. All of whom are either delightful and supportive, or utterly toxic and vicious.
Nick seems oblivious as to who are which. The film progresses via a blueprint straight out of Cinderella, with Nick’s ex and company the evil step-sisters, a gay cousin and fashion stylist as fairy godmother and Nick’s mother as the wicked witch sabotaging Rachel’s happiness from behind the scenes.
It’s a ruthlessly formulaic and reductive style of writing, which has been providing the chassis for rom-coms for as long as scripts have been written.
But seeing it rolled out in a film that is being touted as a triumph for Asian film-making, is dispiriting at best.
Crazy Rich Asians is being praised for being the first American-produced film in decades to feature an all-Asian cast.
And fair enough, too. But anyone who’s ever visited Singapore knows what a meltingpot of races, languages and cultures the island is home to.
Crazy Rich Asians finds room for one brief scene at a night foodmarket, but otherwise remains timidly monocultural within one of world’s most bustling and multicultural cities.
In the leads, Wu is perky and unsinkable as Rachel, while Golding is as bland and colourless as the endless array of linen suits and pale shirts he gets around in.
Yeoh hoves into her work as Henry’s mother in a way that would do credit to a far better film than this.
Rapper Awkwafina co-opts a lot of black American idiom to passable comic effect in a sparky turn as Rachel’s best friend from her university days.
Director Jon Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets) keeps the pace bubbling along with a selection of shots, cuts and soundtrack choices that would not be out of place in a reality TV show.
At one juncture, someone intones ‘‘this is like The Bachelor: Singapore’’, which struck me as a telling moment of self-awareness in a film that too often relies on empty spectacle and cliche for effect.
Crazy Rich Asians finds room for one brief scene at a night foodmarket, but otherwise remains timidly monocultural within one of world’s most bustling and multi-cultural cities.