BNP Goes to the Movies: “Crazy Rich Asians”

The Hollywood myth that movies with predominately minority casts aren’t relatable to general (aka “White”) audiences – and underperform as a result – just won’t go away. Or will it? Tinsel Town executives had their collective edges snatched by the $1 billion+ performance of Black Panther and $140 million+ showing of Girls Trip earlier this year, both led by majority Black casts. And if the buzz around the Asian-led Crazy Rich Asians carries over to the box office, those same executives will want to invest in some Crème of Nature Edge Control with the quickness. Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), a Chinese-American economics professor at New York University who learns that her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) is the billionaire heir to his family’s Chinese real estate business. Nick invites Rachel to his family home in Singapore to attend a friend’s wedding and within minutes the news has spread globally across Asian diaspora via social media. Before they’re even out of the bar, Nick’s mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) is calling her son to inquire about the mysterious American girl he’s bringing home. What follows is a classic tale of “Poor Girl/Boy Meets Rich Boy/Girl and Romantic Hijinks Between the Classes Ensue.” You’ve seen it in My Fair Lady, Aladdin, and of course Cinderella. And like every story in this vein, there’s a hater or two that doesn’t want the outsider to overstay their welcome. In Crazy Rich Asians, that’s Nick’s traditionalist…