Crazy Rich Asians
October 2, 2018
The representation of minorities in Hollywood has been absent for far too long, but the recent release of movies like Crazy Rich Asians this void is finally being filled. Critics have even cited Crazy Rich Asians as the Black Panther for Asian-Americans.
The movie’s plot follows an Asian-American couple living in New York, Rachel Chu and Nick Young, as they travel to Singapore to attend the wedding of a dear friend. Once there, Rachel meets for the first time, Nick’s family; an insanely rich, famous, and envied family in Singapore — The Young Dynasty.
The main conflict centers around the struggles that Rachel has to face, because of her relationship with Nick. Almost every woman in Singapore envies her, and throughout the movie they accuse her of being a golddigger. This resentment is further perpetuated when Rachel meets Nick’s mother, Eleanor Sung-Young; as she despises Rachel for her American upbringing.
Rachel’s internal conflict is strengthened through Constance Wu’s exceptional performance. For example, in scenes where the couple are alone, Constance’s emotion and passion, accentuates the love between the pair, therefore making scenes where they argue much more heartbreaking.
Another notable performance is that of Michelle Yeoh, who plays Eleanor. Her performance embodies that of a serpent, as her character is very manipulative and cruel, as she slowly sabotages Rachel’s and Nick’s long standing relationship.
Although there were stellar actors like Yeoh, and Wu, there was one performance that was subpar compared to the rest. This mediocrity came from Awkwafina, who played Rachel’s best friend from college. Awkwafina character is the comic relief in the movie, but it was annoying and added nothing to the movie.
The sabotage finally gets to Rachel in the wedding scene towards the end of the movie, where Rachel has a sort of panic attack and escapes the party. She is so fearful of the party because it embodies everything that Rachel and Nick despise on account of how wealthy Nick’s family is. Nick’s cousins for example are so indulged in their fame that they have little care for anything around them, even their families. There are also many women at the party who stare at Rachel and giggle, further perpetuating the notion that people are extremely envious of her.
This cinematography is pretty decent throughout the movie, but there are two scenes in particular that were phenomenal.
The aforementioned scene in which Rachel has a panic attack is able to perfectly encapsulate the fear that fills Rachel through its camera work and editing. Rachel begins to run at the camera, and then it follows in that view, through a maze of partygoers. Each one making her more and more anxious. There is also a lot of shaking and quick camera pans that add to the feeling of anxiety
The other exceptional scene is the wedding scene; this scene is emotionally overwhelming and almost brought me to tears. The scene begins with pans between Rachel and Nick as they begin to get teary eyed. Then the bride begins to walk in and then everything slows down, heartfelt music beings to play, and then you see the bride looking beautifully radiant. Pans between Rachel and Nick continue to play, and serve to show that they truly love each other.
I came into this movie expecting a dumb rom-com that would be filled with cheesy writing and bad characters, but I left with something much more. Crazy Rich Asians had interesting characters, well-written dialogue, and beautiful shots. This movie absolutely exceeded my expectations.

Michael has something to him that I don’t really see in much people. He has a personality you honestly can’t dislike in anyway, even if you tried. The way he goes about school and his friends and just really life is something to truly be admired.
He rarely lets the negativity he encounters affect him. Michael always manages to find some that will make him happy, even when there really isn’t much to be happy about. Whether he plays a weird song that he likes or just wants to be around his friends, he’ll find a way to keep himself in the best mood possible which is hard for anyone to do, and yet he does it like nothing.
Micheal when it comes to his work is great. He knows how to get along with anyone he works with. I got to see this up front, as I worked with him on podcast and man was he fun to work with. When he came to podcast from being a writer, he had so many ideas that just clicked right away like “hey, that's actually a really good idea” and we all genuinely thought that he had good ideas for podcasts. I don’t think there is one idea he brought up that we turned down, and once we agreed to his idea, he made it work well. He just has a knack to spread his thoughts onto others and get them to like it.
The thing that made all of personality click is that he is s not trying to be someone he’s not. Michael is someone that will be himself no matter who or what is in front of him, and that’s what really shapes him into a great person. People get caught up in trying to get everyone to like them and being friends with everyone, but not him. He just wants to be himself, which is really what makes him such a fantastic figure and a truly enjoyable friend to have in anyone’s life.
-Enrique Jimenez
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