Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes:
The hilarious and unapologetically explicit story of identity and self-discovery centers on four unlikely friends who embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure. When Audrey’s (Ashley Park) business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the aid of Lolo (Sherry Cola), her irreverent, childhood best friend who also happens to be a hot mess; Kat (Stephanie Hsu), her college friend turned Chinese soap star; and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s eccentric cousin. Their no-holds-barred, epic experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging, and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.
Review:
Joy Ride gives the audience the usual joys of the girlfriend trip adventure- mismatched bffs, the nerdy virginal odd girl out, crashing outings that go wild and weird, freewheeling sex-capades featuring Asian cowgirl and other kamasutra positions, neon upchucking, unhinged assorted debauchery, booze and drugs, and a hysterical WAP reveal joke.
Joy Ride directed by the Crazy Rich Asians scribe, Adele Lim only changes the raunch-com wheels by adding American Chinese tires. The result is one of the funniest movies of 2023. It processes its narrative Chop Suey into a pleasingly sustained near berserk joke barrage with epic and outrageous set pieces. Sure, it has an overly earnest and sentimental twenty minutes of feels that takes to long to work through, but that’s only there to make it seem well rounded and bitter sweet. Nothing wrong with that.
The mismatch besties are Audrey (the brilliant Ashley Park, from “Emily in Paris”) and Lolo (a deliciously acerbic Sherry Cola), childhood friends since they bonded over being the only Asian girls in their Pacific Northwest town. Audrey was adopted by a white couple through the usual diplomatic channels. She’s now a career obsessed lawyer being sent to Beijing to close a big deal- a promotion the dangling incentive. Since her Mandarin is practically nonexistent, she brings along the irrepressible Lolo.
Completing the comic superteam are Lolo’s socially awkward cousin, Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), whose superpower is extensive K-pop knowledge, and Audrey’s college roommate Kat (Stephanie Hsu, from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), now a screen star in China and engaged to her very hunky and very Christian co-star (Desmond Chiam). When Audrey decides to find her birth mother, the four set off on an odyssey that devolves into a series of comic mishaps.
Joy Ride is especially sharp and poignant in the way it shows Asian identity and assimilation. The screenwriters Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao have fun finding serious and comic angles to puncture both the self imposed and parental-societal expectations placed on Asians and Asian Americans. The seams slacken just a little bit when the movie strives for more relevance than the comedy can carry. The cast chemistry and great comic timing smooths over a lot. These ladies are waiting and destined for their big star turn.
Joy Ride gets a 3.5 out of 5 or aB+. It’s streaming on Starz.
Credits:
Directed by
Screenplay by
Story by
- Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
- Teresa Hsiao
- Adele Lim
Produced by
- Seth Rogen
- Evan Goldberg
- James Weaver
- Josh Fagen
- Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
- Teresa Hsiao
- Adele Lim
Starring
Cinematography
Paul Yee
Edited by
Nena Erb
Music by
Nathan Matthew David
Production
companies
- Point Grey Pictures
- Red Mysterious Hippo
Distributed by
Release dates
- March 17, 2023(SXSW)
- July 7, 2023(United States)
Running time
95 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
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