ROMANTIC COMEDY; 2hr
STARRING: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh
Mother direst: from left, Yeoh, Golding and Wu
Rachel Chu (Wu) is a New York economics professor and whip-smart all round. But nothing in her fiscally ordinary history could prepare her for the stonking wealth she encounters when her boyfriend, Nick Young (Golding), flies her First Class (natch) to Singapore to attend his BF’s wedding and brave his full-on family.
Once they’ve touched down, it rapidly emerges that the Youngs are mega-developers, loaded to their gills and bristling with personality and relationship issues. Aside from crushing social pressure, the most confronting foe Rachel must face is Nick’s elegant mother, Eleanor (Yeoh). A possessive traditionalist, the quietly hostile Eleanor could not approve less of an American-based nobody as a consort for her hugely entitled son: for his part, Nick is blasé about his gilt-encrusted heritage and conveniently tone-deaf to whatever fresh hell Rachel is bound to go through. Hence his lack of a lifesaving heads-up—although, in fairness, there’d be no story to revel in if Rachel came prepared.
As it stands, nothing succeeds like excess in Now You See Me 2 director Joh M. Chu’s buzzy treatment of Kevin Kwan’s juicy international bestseller. It’s froth and chilled bubbles when it wants to be, and in the scenes when it doesn’t, Wu and Yeoh dignify Rachel and Eleanor’s cultural conflict with a sincerity that ultimately leaves you barracking for them both. But Crazy’s real drawcard is the staggering consumerism that boggles the eyes and narcotises the mind. This is iron-fisted luxury as a velvety assault; like the guilty pleasure book to which it happily and cattily hues, designer-eye candy rules every roost. Kwan-philes, get ready.
