The January selection is Crazy, Rich Asians selected for several reasons, including the reality that this is one of the first movies with an all Asian cast. Also, it purports to be wicked funny. Sat. Jan 19 @ 2 pm in the chapel.
Here is a review by Geoffrey Macnab from The Independent:
Already a box office phenomenon, Crazy Rich Asians is an expertly crafted melodrama along Cinderella lines. Shamelessly kitsch but funny and affecting enough to get away with its own excesses and many toe-curling moments, this trailblazing film has extra significance as one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to feature an all-Asian cast
Not that Crazy Rich Asians wants to lecture us or to spend too long exposing the hypocrisy of most of its protagonists. It’s a glossy, escapist romcom, after all. The film may be set in Singapore but its characters and themes will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has attended a fractious family wedding anywhere.
We know exactly how the story will resolve itself, but the filmmakers still show wit and invention in the way they handle the cliches and take us toward the inevitable (and predictably very soppy) finale. Wu makes a likeable and resourceful heroine, one prepared to use game theory or talk about micro-loans in the developing world if it will help keep her relationship with Nick alive.
Like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Crazy Rich Asians has come from nowhere and hit the box office bull’s-eye. Sequels are bound to follow – and will almost certainly be anticlimactic in the extreme. The original, though, is just as much fun as all the advance hype has suggested.