It’s 1995 in London and Eleanor Young (Michelle Yeoh) and family are about to check in at a very elegant hotel that is until the manager demonstrates his ignorant side because of their ethnicity. Moments later, things change because you never know just who you’re talking to if you don’t know them. In another part of the country, New York, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is teaching her class at NYU as an economics professor when Nick Young (Henry Golding) walks in. They’ve been dating for over a year now and Rachel assumes Nick come from a middle class environment due to his daily routines. That is until social media gets involved outing to the world that Nick has a girlfriend.
Well, it seems Nick has been asked to be the best man at his friend Colin’s (Chris Pang) wedding one thing though it is in Singapore and he wants Rachel to join him. While there he can introduce her to his mother Eleanor, his grandmother (Lisa Lu) and his entire very wealthy family and friends. As for Rachel she can take time during this trip to visit her old college buddy Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina) think Asian Ellen. So off to Singapore they go and when they arrive and Rachel meets the family and friends they are not so welcoming to an American born Chinese woman, their thoughts are kind of like a banana, white on the inside and yellow on the outside. The other girls that wanted Nick but couldn’t get him were jealous, considering her a gold digging bitch. Truth is told Rachel did not know about the family fortune in depth until Goh Peik Lin and her parents filled her in on just how rich. The evening later when Rachel attends a party at the Grandmothers home she soon gets and idea. At the same time the grandmother seemed to like her but Eleanor not so much.
Meanwhile there are several side stories going on as well with Astrid Leong (Gemma Chan) and her family as well as with the Auntie’s, Alistair Cheng (Remy Hii), Ollie (Nico Santos) among several other characters. Albeit all leading up to the wedding day which was absolutely beautiful but at the reception secrets are revealed that lead Rachel and her Cinderella story to come to an end. The final thoughts leading up to the questions if Rachel is enough for Nick, will Eleanor ever accept Rachel into the family should Nick ever propose to her, or will the secrets revealed be the reason to end it all? Overall in the end there is nothing more comforting than your mother and Rachel’s mom Kerry (Kheng Hua Tan) knew exactly what to do for Rachel.
The story has been told before of course but not in the Asian culture. It is pretty much the “Pretty Woman”, “Cinderella” stories but filmed in Singapore. After watching this film and admiring the cinematography and food shown throughout this film it makes me want to take a trip there. I enjoyed the film which has chick flick all over it but even throughout all the glamour, money, music, beautiful back-drops of the Chinese culture having seen this story so many times I knew what to expect out of this storyline.
The acting was very well done. Already a fan of hers from her television show Wu does an exceptional job leading this film although I did not always get the butterflies inside romantically as I did with Julie Roberts, Meg Ryan or in fact Cinderella! Yeoh is spot on as the evil mother with a dislike for Rachel believing no one is good enough for her son even though she too knew what it was like to be in Rachel’s shoes. The most eligible bachelor in China Golding is not only handsome but a great cast for this leading role. The rest of the supporting actors were perfection to their roles even Kitty Pong (Fiona Xie) who by the way was acting bad but one can’t tell if she was acting to be bad or just plain bad! Overall it’s a great date movie that your girlfriend would appreciate that you took her to see it. I’m curious to know how it does at the box office opening weekend but more so in the second and third weeks out. Who knows it could be that perfect sleeper that takes the movie-goers by storm.
