so much that she found the book from which the story was based. While she MUCH prefered the movie for many reasons, she also informed me that this is only a third of the story and that two follow-up films have been slated.
It draws out themes such as the love of wealth, the desire to maintain a reputation before others, and how to manage cultural/social expectations and traditions when they conflict with your wishes
Constance Wu (from ”Fresh Off the Boat”) plays Rachel, an American Economics professor who doesn’t realize she’s dating a man whose family is among the richest in Southeast Asia. Oddly, he never mentioned this and his family only comes up when he announces, out of the blue, that he’s returning to Singapore for a wedding and wants her to come along to show her off to his family and friends. Once there, she realizes she’s in for a surprise. not only because they are so wealthy but because many of them are bigoted jerk-faces.
While some might call this a chechena mujeres saliendo rom-com, there isn’t a lot of comedy in this movie. Instead, it’s more an interesting lesson about wealth and Singaporan-Chinese culture. In this sense, I found it very interesting and I enjoyed watching it while occasionally yelling out ”dump the boyfriend”. much to my daughter’s annoyance, though, fortunately, we saw it at home and not in a theater! Worth seeing and cleverly written.
Let me say straight off the bat that this does not give an accurate representation of 99% of Singaporeans, such as myself, ordinary people with more modest, down-to-earth backgrounds. This didn’t stop me from enjoying this movie, which featured terrific acting, a storyline that translated erawork and production values.
Michelle Yeoh, acting as the stern, imposing mother of the male protagonist Nicholas gave the standout performance for me- I could sense the intensity of this character without going over-dramatic. Constance Wu, playing the female protagonist, also did terrifically as the girl thrust into a world she’s totally unprepared to face. Everyone else, including Henry Goulding as the male protagonist, were also solid.
I found the character development in the movie impressive, not just with the two main characters but even the minor ones too, as their backstories and motivations for behaving the way they did unfolded effectively. The storyline does fall prey to corny moments typical of most rom-coms- indeed, on that note, the story itself unfolded in a manner very formulaic of a rom-com, but that isn’t too big of a deal in a script which overall works well. And it’s supplemented by interesting camerawork and beautiful production values, illuminating the story very nicely.
Many people seem to really detest this movie (and even the book it’s based on), perceiving it as a shallow, silly, even offensive glorification of ultra-rich families and modern-day materialism. I’d say that’s too simplistic of an overview, as the heightening of a mega-wealthy bubble that is presented in the story is simply to illustrate the issues and circumstances that someone in that scenario would face. That is something I really appreciated in the film, and would recommend you disregard the negative reviews and give it a watch.
Why all the hate? This movie is purely escapism and it doesn’t pretend to be anything deeper than that. It showcases exotic scenery and lots of shiny expensive things. There’s also a ”Cinderella-esque” love story that serves to move the story along sweetly.
My daughter loved this movie
The characters aren’t super deep and they don’t do any switching up halfway through the film so the plot is easy to follow. Charming boy is secretly rich with a heart of gold, and eyes for only our lead lady. Successful girl is comfortable and naive, and fights a battle of wits to be with her man.