CRAZY RICH ASIANS: 4 STARS
鈥淐razy Rich Asians,鈥� based on the phenomenally successful books by Kevin Kwan, is a mix of 鈥淐inderella鈥� and a rom com with a side order of 鈥淧ride and Prejudice.鈥�
Constance Wu plays Rachel Chu, an NYU economics professor, who dates historian Nick Young (Henry Golding). After a year of seeing one another he invites her to his best friend鈥檚 wedding and to meet his family in Singapore. She jumps at the chance because she knows nothing about them. Every time she brings up the family he changes the subject. 鈥淢aybe his parents are poor and he has to send them money,鈥� says her mother Kerry (Kheng Hua Tan).
Turns out just the opposite is true.
When it begins to dawn on Rachel that his family is well off she asks him straight up. 鈥淲e鈥檙e comfortable,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat is exactly what a super rich person would say,鈥� she says. He is the son of unimaginably rich parents, the wealthiest people on the island. Nick is prince charming, a good-looking heir to a fortune who downplays his status. 鈥淒amn, Rachel, says Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina), 鈥渉e鈥檚 like an Asian Bachelor.鈥�
She is the Meghan to his Harry but there are problems. Catapulted into a world of opulence Rachel finds herself under scrutiny. Nick鈥檚 family doesn鈥檛 approve of her job, her background or the fact that a single mother raised her. 鈥淚f Nick chooses me,鈥� she says to his mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), 鈥渉e would lose his family. And if he chooses his family, he might spend the rest of his life resenting you.鈥�
鈥淐razy Rich Asians鈥� is an effervescent concoction so fizzy it鈥檒l make your tongue tingle. A glittery surface built around a solid chassis, it contains a bit of something for everyone, from romance and Lifestyles of the Rich and Singaporean to melodrama and philosophy, from exotic locations to comedy.
But at its heart it is the story of a woman, Rachel, who is secure enough in her own place in the world to not be seduced by the cornucopia of riches on offer. It鈥檚 about character and how it relates to individualism versus tradition.
The plotting is pure rom com鈥攃ouple fall in love, are forced apart and (SPOILER ALERT ONLY IF YOU鈥橵E NEVER SEEN A ROM COM BEFORE) yet find a way to make their love work despite all obstacles鈥攂ut it is populated with appealing characters to guide the story.
Wu is the film鈥檚 beating heart, bringing empathy and humanity to the high-flying world portrayed. Ditto Gemma Chan, an extravagantly wealthy woman trying to make sense of a marriage torn apart by money and status. As Nick鈥檚 icy mother Michelle Yeoh displays an ability to reveal much by doing very little.
On the com side of things is Awkwafina as Rachel鈥檚 best friend. She steals every scene she鈥檚 in, even when up against veteran eye catcher Ken Jeong.
鈥淐razy Rich Asians鈥� is an escapist fantasy that entertains with its labyrinthine soap opera twists and turns, lush settings and all Asian cast鈥攁 first in a quarter century in Hollywood鈥攂ut also digs a little deeper into the similarities and differences between the characters and cultures.
MILE 22: 3 STARS
If director Peter Berg鈥檚 oeuvre could be boiled down to one sentence it might read something like, 鈥淎merican heroes battle against overwhelming odds.鈥� Films like 鈥淟one Survivor,鈥� 鈥淭he Kingdom鈥� and 鈥淧atriot Games鈥� have carved out a singular niche for Berg in the action genre. True to form, his new film 鈥淢ile 22 鈥� pits Berg regular Mark Wahlberg and a small team of 鈥減roblem solvers鈥� against the military might of a corrupt government.
Wahlberg plays CIA operative James Silva, a fast talker and thinker who 鈥渙nly responds to two things, intelligence and pain. He heads a team who fight the 鈥渘ew wars,鈥� the conflicts that don鈥檛 make the front pages. They live in a world of violence and 鈥渦nknown knowns.鈥� 鈥淭his is dark work,鈥� Silva says.
Their search for deadly radioactive powder, fear powder as Silva calls it, leads to Li Noor (Iko Uwais), a Southeast Asian informant who wants out of Indonesia. The informant has a disk containing the location of the deadly stuff but will only give the code to open the disc if they guarantee his safe transport out of the country. Trouble is, the corrupt government will do whatever it takes to keep him in their borders.
鈥淢ile 22鈥� is a violent movie. How violent? The GNP of some small countries probably couldn鈥檛 cover Berg鈥檚 bullet budget. By the time the informant is scraping one of his victims Max back and forth against a broken, jagged window you may wonder how many more unusual ways there are to off a person. Their handler, played by John Malkovich, says they are involved in 鈥渁 higher form of patriotism鈥� but the film鈥檚 hyper kinetic editing and palpable joy in blowing away the bad guys suggest their elevated patriotism may have a hint of psychopathy mixed in.
Large sections of the film play like a first person shooter video game. There鈥檚 even a 鈥渟coreboard鈥� where the vital statistics of the team are listed and then go dark as they are killed.
鈥淢ile 22鈥� wants to make a statement about the murky depths our protectors brave to keep us safe but ends up expending more ammunition than insight.
NEVER SAW IT COMING: 3 STARS
鈥淣ever Saw it Coming,鈥� based on the novel by Linwood Barclay, is a very dark comedy set against a backdrop of violence, murder and fraud.
Emily Hampshire is Keisha Ceylon, a con artist in an unhappy relationship who puts food on the table as a pseudo psychic. For a fee鈥攁lways upfront鈥攕he preys on vulnerable families, offering phony information in outstanding missing person鈥檚 cases. An edgy character through and through, she even occasionally sets up a disappearance and later split the finder鈥檚 fee with a the supposedly disappeared person. When a consultation with Wendell Garfield (Eric Roberts), a wealthy man whose wife had vanished, takes a bad turn, Keisha discovers an even darker path in life.
Tightly constructed, 鈥淣ever Saw it Coming鈥� is a story about the lengths a person will go to survive, to provide for their family. Keisha鈥檚 morally dubious鈥攖o say the least鈥攁ctions have unexpected results and that鈥檚 what keeps the story buoyant. In any other film Keisha would be the villain, or at the least, a very shady character not to be trusted. Here Hampshire infuses her with considerable charm, even when she is doing terrible things. She is one of the rare baddies you might just end up rooting for.
鈥淣ever Saw it Coming鈥� isn鈥檛 a complicated tale. It鈥檚 an aptly named story that sees its main character thrown into a bad situation, ripe with violence and deceit, that provides enough twists to keep you guessing until the end credits roll.
NICO, 1988: 3 STARS
Memory and regret hang heavy over 鈥淣ico, 1988,鈥� an uncompromising biopic detailing the last years of 1960鈥檚 Velvet Underground icon Christa Päffgen a.k.a Nico (Trine Dyrholm).
Long removed from the New York City scene and band that made her a legend, Nico, who now prefers to be called by her real name Christa, is touring across Europe with an uninspired band and her drug-addicted son (Sandor Funtek).
Voice ravaged by hard living and heroin, she is unpredictable and unhappy. Her efforts to forge a new phase of her career are sidelined by an overwhelming interest in her legendary career. 鈥淒idn鈥檛 she sleep with one of the Rolling Stones? Which one was it? The one that drowned?鈥� What about her work with The Velvet Underground? The ghosts of her past haunt her.
鈥淣ico, 1988鈥� is a gloomy film about the power of art as a survival tactic. Her life in shambles, Christa persists because she has something left to say, even if there aren鈥檛 many people interested in listening. As such, the movie works best in the moments when it allows her the chance to express herself. Not the diva behaviour, disrupting a restaurant in search of drugs or berating those around her, but letting her true spirit soar.
To watch her sing 鈥淢y Heart is Empty鈥� in front of an Iron Curtain audience who risked arrest to see her perform is a galvanising moment in the film. Pure rock and roll passion filtered through anger, hurt and a desire to be heard. It鈥檚 the movie鈥檚 best scene, a sequence of catharsis that brings this portrait of a seemingly cool, detached woman roaring to life.
