Review of Crazy Rich Asians (2018) by Thewaffle — 21 Sep 2020

It's a less good, less funny version of Meet the Parents. There's never any question of whether Nick and Rachel will end up together. He's pretty explicit that he doesn't really care about his family's opinion of her, even though the family's disapproval is the main conflict of the film. The film hinges on this very forced dynamic, where some of Nick's rich family and friends try to condescend to Rachel, despite the fact that she is a 20-something economics PhD and professor at NYU (one of the most famous and respected universities in the world). And despite a pretty elaborate set up of Rachel's economics/game-theory background, this never comes into play. She doesn't outwit anybody. She has one 30-second conversation with some rich lady about monetary policy.

The film also wastes a lot of time on a pointless Astrid subplot, in which Nick's insanely beautiful/successful/wonderful cousin finds out her husband is cheating on her. We're supposed to feel bad for her, but the guy is clearly not good enough for her, and she's still a wildly successful/wealthy fashion designer, so she'll be fine.