I went to a screening of Crazy Rich Asians last night. It was so fun, so gorgeous, and although it was quite different from the books, it kept most of the beats and the reveals of the novel, in a very condensed form. Basically, the books are OTT manners novels with romcom elements, the movie is an OTT romcom with hints of a manners novel.
Some of my favorite characters, scenes, and subplots were cut, probably because it would have been a 4-hour movie. (Actually, that would have been fine by me.) I was a little disappointed that the movie abbreviated the new rich-old money contrast between the Gohs and the Young-Shang-Tsiens. I sort of saw Auntie Neenah as a Singaporean Beetelle Fabrikant, but in the movie the Gohs are all very much comic relief. I didn’t love every change but making Rachel a game theory teacher was an A+ decision.
Also, this song, 我要你的爱, has things I like in my dad’s big band kinda music and things I like in mandopop songs, and somehow the combination makes it pretty much impossible not to sing.
