Crazy Rich Asians

Official Australian release date: 30/8/18. Viewed: 26/8/18.

Director: Jon Chu

Actors: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina

Genre: Comedy / Romance

Rating: PG

   

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is both very simple and subtly intricate, for a romantic comedy. The plot is pretty straightforward – Nick (Golding) & his girlfriend Rachel (Wu), live in New York and are visiting Singapore for Nick’s friend’s wedding. The trouble comes from Nick’s mother, Eleanor (Yeoh) and the fact that he hasn’t disclosed that he comes from an obscenely rich family and that everyone’s going to be judging Rachel.

There’s plenty of things going on – mummy issues, historical Asian family traditions, culture vs modernity, being set almost exclusively in Singapore, rather than America – but it mostly boils down to the old adage of it’s what’s on the inside that counts. While there is some drama, family politics and serious moments – mostly with Eleanor, Astrid (Chan) & Michael (Png) – they’re offset by the varied cast, with some great comedic moments from Peik Lin (Awkwafina), who steals the show in her scenes, Bernard (Yang), Eddie (Chieng) & Wye (Jeong).

It’s probably a little long at two hours, but the Singaporean/Malaysian scenery is great to see, as is the soundtrack, with Chinese versions of popular English songs. Both Golding and Wu are likeable leads, with good chemistry. Overall, it’s a well-made & balanced film – not too stupid, not too sappy, not too unrealistic.

Overall: Assured, mostly-fun rom-com

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

The Happytime Murders

Official Australian release date: 23/8/18. Viewed: 24/8/18.

Director: Brian Henson

Actors: Bill Baretta, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Elizabeth Banks

Genre: Comedy

Rating: MA

   

‘The Happytime Murders’ tries to do what ‘Team America’ did – mixing puppets and adult humour – but ultimately fails. Sure, there’s some credibility being that it’s directed by Jim Henson’s son, but while the puppets all look like ‘Muppets’ knock-offs, there’s no Muppet joy or sense of fun. The plot is that Phil (Baretta – the voice of Pepé from the Muppets) has to work with his ex-cop-partner, Edwards (McCarthy) to solve the murders of the former stars of “Happytime” TV show.

The cast is good – Bubbles (Rudolph), Phil’s the secretary, jerk FBI Agent Campbell (McHale), the Lieutenant (Baker) & Phil’s ex-girlfriend Jenny (Banks) – but mostly underutilised. The main issue is the writing – there’s some jokes, but just not many funny ones, unfortunately. A lot of the humour resorts to the puppets swearing or doing something gross, which isn’t shocking anymore – not after ‘Sausage Party’!   

Melissa McCarthy’s OK, but doesn’t really have that much to do, the actual murders they’re solving are very predictable, so it ends up not working as a cop film or a comedy. There’s some message in there about sugar being the worst drug of all, but it’s glossed over. Since I didn’t laugh more than a couple of times throughout it’s very short runtime, I can’t rate this very highly, since that’s it’s main job – to make me laugh.

Overall: Failed attempt at subversion

Gav's Rating: 2 stars.

The Meg

Official Australian release date: 16/8/18. Viewed: 11/8/18.

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Actors: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Cliff Curtis, Rainn Wilson

Genre: Action

Rating: M

   

From the director of ‘Cool Runnings’, ‘Phenomenon’ and ‘Last Vegas’ (diverse filmography, Turteltaub!) comes ‘The Meg’, a film about a really big shark. So big (25m!), in fact, that it’s a prehistoric Megalodon. It’s pretty much the same premise as ‘Piranha’ – which begs the question – why did this film require three writers?!? Needless to say, there’s not much plot, other than Jonas (Statham) trying to save people from sunken submersibles, that keep getting attacked by the “Meg”.

Now, for such a ridiculous idea, it’s played quite earnestly throughout, especially with romantic interest Suyin (Li), her Dad (Chao), Jonas’ friend Mac (Curtis), and to a lesser degree, Morris (Wilson), the billionaire who’s bankrolling the oilrig-turned-marine-science-lab. Definitely could’ve done with more tongue-in-cheek-ness – although Suyin’s daughter Meiying (Cai) steals all her scenes. Ruby Rose, Jessica McNamee and Page Kennedy are mostly wasted.

Main gripe – needed more deaths! If you’re watching a film about a giant shark (which doesn’t appear for first 30min), you want to see 20+ people getting eaten. Not sure it even cracks 10… All that being said, there’s a few jumps, some laughs and it definitely doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Not as kitchy as it could’ve been, but certainly no ‘Jaws’ or ‘Deep Blue Sea’.

Overall: Average Statham-saves-the-day film, with shark.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.