‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is a Singapore showcase with a great soundtrack

Crazy Rich Asians—last summer’s blockbuster movie is a feast for the eyes, even if the plot isn’t exactly original

Welcome back to Plain English. I’m Jeff; JR is the producer. Time for another movie review! I hope you like these. We talked about Roma back in Episode 120 and A Star Is Born back in Episode 104. So if you like movies, check those out. The rules are the same today as they were back then. If you are afraid of any type of spoilers, then maybe you should see the movie before listening to this episode. But I’m not going to spoil too much for you here.

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You don’t have to be crazy or Asian to enjoy ‘Crazy Rich Asians’

This summer’s blockbuster movie, Crazy Rich Asians, based on the book by Kevin Kwan, was a classic Hollywood romantic comedy with an eastern flavor. Let’s see if you recognize any of these plot elements: two people want to get together, but they are from different cultures; one is rich, the other, not so much; the family of one doesn’t accept the other; there’s a conflict or a struggle, and the girl gives up; the guy reflects on it deeply and decides to go after her; there is a final dramatic proposal to redeem the couple’s love; she says yes; they kiss and everyone applauds.

Basically, you’ve seen it a hundred times. In this variety, Nick, the son of a rich real estate family in Singapore, falls in love with a Chinese-American girl from Queens, New York, the daughter of an immigrant single mother. Nick brings her to Singapore for his brother’s wedding, and to meet his family. The only catch is that he hasn’t told Rachel, his girlfriend of a year, that his family is crazy rich. When she gets to Singapore, she finds Nick’s mother and grandmother don’t accept her. In one particularly biting scene, Nick’s mother coolly tells Rachel that being married to her son requires hard work and sacrifice, and that she, Rachel, will never measure up. Intense conflict ensues. The typical Hollywood plotline plays out.

But keep listening, because Crazy Rich Asians has more to it than this stock Hollywood plotline. The reason to watch this movie is not the plot: it’s everything else besides the plot. First of all, the cast: it’s the first all-Asian (or primarily Asian) cast since The Joy Luck Club, which came out 26 years ago.

Even if you don’t love romantic comedies, you’d enjoy this movie just for the scenery. Singapore appears at once high-energy and tranquil, as the main characters flit between energetic street markets and peaceful gardens, between thumping parties and romantic boat rides. The final scene takes place on the rooftop of the signature building in Singapore’s skyline: the Marina Bay Sands hotel. It consists of three separate 55-story towers, connected at the top by a huge platform that extends across all three towers, and even extends 65 feet beyond the roof of the main structure. The rooftop is a huge party space, including an enormous infinity pool—that’s where the final party takes place, with synchronized swimmers providing the entertainment.

Then there’s the Newton Food Centre—where Nick first takes Rachel to meet his friends before she meets the family. The food court is an outdoor area with 83 different food stalls, all arranged in a horseshoe pattern. The scene features a dizzying array of street dishes: chili fried crab, satay, and dumplings. “Best satay in the city,” Nick brags—and I don’t doubt it.

I also loved the scene at a place called the Gardens by the Bay, where Nick’s brother Collin and his wife Araminto have their big wedding. The gardens have these huge man-made sculptures made to look like trees; they’re covered in smaller, actual plants and are lit up at night. They also have these temperature-controlled domes with thousands of plants and trees from all over the world.

A pivotal final scene takes place in a mahjong game hall. Mahjong is a complicated and fast-past game played with four players and tiles; the rules are different in different parts of the world. Of course, there are the luxurious houses and hotels—those need no explanation.

The music is fantastic. As the bride starts to walk down the aisle—which is a shallow river of water sprinkled with petals—a guitarist is playing my favorite Elvis song: “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Kina Grannis, the guitarist, sang the lyrics in English.

The classic Motown song “Money (That’s What I Want),” which was most famously covered by the Beatles in 1963, appears twice: once in English and once in Chinese. We also hear Madonna’s famous song, “Material Girl” sung in Chinese. You might also recognize the song “Yellow” by Coldplay, performed by Katherine Ho.

I do have a bit of criticism for the movie, though. I personally thought there was too much going on—too many scenes, too many people, too many conflicts—to really develop the conflict beyond the superficial rich guy-poor girl dynamic. There is only one really deep emotional theme in the whole movie, and that is, unfortunately, a sub-plot. Astrid, Nick’s sympathetic sister, is married to a workaholic, whom she discovers is having an affair. The conflict between them is about the husband’s sense of self-worth in a family of such extravagant riches. That is deepest part of the plot, and, to me, contains the most powerful scene in the whole film—the scene where Astrid leaves the apartment they both lived in. That scene could have been the basis of a whole movie. I watched it thinking, if only the rest of this movie could have had this depth, then it would have been a much more powerful film.

But let’s not judge Crazy Rich Asians for not being something it wasn’t trying to be. It was a fairly classic Hollywood romantic comedy, shot on the brilliant backdrop of a vibrant city, with an all-Asian star cast. The boy and the girl get together at the end—and that’s not a spoiler, since that happens in every Hollywood movie. The plot is almost a device for us to enjoy the cast, the music, and the scenery.

Boy, Kina Grannis was excellent singing Can’t Help Falling in Love. She has another version of it, too, on an album called “The Living Room Sessions.” That version, if anything, is even better than the one in the movie. I was listening to that album this afternoon and realized I had already heard her version of the song “Riptide;” I just hadn’t known it was her. Kina Grannis—check her out, she sounds amazing.

JR loved it. He says that this movie serves to remind us that where we come from has nothing to do with the place where we want to be; that we live in a world full of options, and we can make each make the best life for ourselves. And if you are meant to be with someone, you can overcome any obstacle. He also said he cried three times in the movie. So that’s another positive—if you can’t afford a crying therapist from Japan, like we talked about in Episode 115, then just stream Crazy Rich Asians.

I’d like to mention a few listeners today. I heard from a few people who loved the episode about Toronto. That was number 124. You know, I had a feeling this would have been a popular one. Toronto, as I told you in the episode, is a very international city, and this—I don’t need to tell you—is a very international podcast, so I wasn’t surprised one bit that many of you had fond memories of Toronto. Ece from Turkey went to Toronto to study English, and that episode brought back some great memories. Same goes for Igor; that was the first place he ever went outside Brazil, so he remembers Tim Horton’s, Niagara Falls, poutine—all that stuff.

I also want to say hi to Ayaz. He’s Syrian and listening in Istanbul. There are lots of tourists in Istanbul, so he’s using English to communicate with them. Also, self-described geek and developer Ayman is listening from Morocco. He’s studying all on his own to learn English and pass the Test of English for International Communication, so that he can accept a job offer working in IT in Japan. One of the places I really want to go is Marrakech, Morocco. My boss at my last job, a long time ago, used to go to Morocco a lot and highly recommended it to me. So I’m glad we have some listeners from North Africa.