[yasr_overall_rating]
This contemporary romantic comedy, based on a global bestseller, follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family.
Right from the get-go, you are dropped into this story and it travels fast which is nice. We get sucked up into the chaos and struggles that Rachel is going through to attempt to connect with and impress Nick’s family, primarily his mother. What this film does well is that it keeps a quick pace, I find that to be rare with movies similar in genre. However, I stayed hooked and was never bored in the slightest. While having a two-hour runtime, it feels far from two hours.
What I will say is with most films in the rom-com genre, I find that the characters tend to be flat or not interesting at all. Once again, this film exceeds the expectation. I found that every character made an impression on me. Which is something that needed to happen, taking on such a large family dynamic. Also, I found all of these characters to be extremely funny and this helped bring them down to earth more so. Humor is something that is often expressed through family moments in many different contexts. It was nice to see that authenticity nailed so well.
What I found to be so captivating too was the culture and just the world of Singapore itself. Granted, I don’t know anything about Chinese culture, so therefore I don’t know how accurate it truly was. However, I felt that the culture and world that Rachel was sucked into was a character in and of itself. I just felt in awe of what I was seeing and being a part of it. I felt more in Rachel’s shoes because of this. It made me inspired to pursue more about Chinese culture and tradition.
Nonetheless, with this being a rom-com, it does occasionally fall into some of the genre’s clichés. That is really the only criticism I have of this film. Beyond that, I think all of its strengths shine over the one negative. I think that most anyone can find something to like about this film. It is just one of those movies that gives you this feeling. You sometimes don’t know how to explain it, it just makes you happy. Which is what I think this film will evoke out of its audience, happiness.
In theaters Wednesday, August 15th
