Joy Ride – Film Review

Cast: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, Ronny Chieng, Desmond Chaim, Alexander Hodge, Daniel Dae Kim

Director: Adele Lim

Synopsis: A lawyer is convinced by her best friend to travel across China in search of her birth mother…

Review: It is inevitable that any movie featuring a group of friends on some kind of raunchy/boozy quest filled with mischievous shenanigans will have comparisons made to either The Hangover franchise or to Bridesmaids. Though they were not the first films of their kind, the latter opened the door for more female-driven R-rated comedies to level a playing field that tended to be dominated by Caucasian men. As such, a comedy which featured Asian-American women at the centre would have been unheard of a few years ago. However, in recent years, Asian-led films have become increasingly more prominent, including a rom-com with a predominantly Asian cast and the not-so-small matter of an Asian-led multiverse film which claimed Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, both of which represented significant moments for Asian representation on screen. Enter Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Adele Lim, making her directorial debut to continue the step forward for representation by having Asian American women at the centre of one of the funniest R-rated comedies in a long time.

Audrey Sullivan (Park) and Lolo Chen (Cola) are best friends who grew up together as the only two Asian children in their neighbourhood, appropriately named White Hills. Now into adulthood, Audrey is a high-flying lawyer on the cusp of a big promotion, while Lolo is an artist specialising in sex positivity. To clinch her promotion, she is tasked by the bosses within her firm to travel to China to close out an important business deal and takes Lolo along to act as a translator. While in the country, they meet up with Lolo’s K-Pop-obsessed cousin Deadeye (Wu) and Audrey’s actor friend Kat Heung (Hsu). After the meeting doesn’t quite go as planned, the four of them go on a journey across the country to find Audrey’s birth mother.

On the surface, Joy Ride certainly resembles the aforementioned comedies featuring a group of friends on a journey of self-discovery, all while engaged in some humorous hijinks. However, through Cherry Chevapravatdumrong’s and Teresa Hsiao’s hilarious screenplay, the film establishes itself from the off by tapping the mindset of these four very different people. Each of them will discover new things about themselves, and their aspirations for what they aspire to achieve while learning some new things about their friendships and cultures along the way. Particularly in the case of Audrey, as someone who has grown up in the US, having been adopted from China as a very young child, it explores her perspective as someone who sees herself torn between the life she has known growing up in her adopted homeland and the family she never knew in Asia. Right from the moment they meet, the friendship between Audrey and Lolo is beautifully realised in no small part due to standing up to a racist bully, with one of the best utterances of “fuck you” in any movie ever. From that moment on, the unbreakable bond between them was set, and the chemistry between Park and Cola is delightful.

It’s not until Audrey and Lolo arrive in China in search of the former’s birth mother, where they quickly meet up with Deadeye and Kat, that the hijinks and hilarity ensue and they come thick and fast. From the key business meeting which descends into a drinking game and more, a highly amusing train journey, uproarious sexual encounters each of our leads has with members of a local sports team (chances are you may well never look at a basketball and a massage gun in the same way again!), and a rendition of a popular rap song, there is no limit to how raunchy and mischievous the comedy will go to make the audience laugh. Each character is given their moment to shine, from Audrey’s insecurities about her identity and her heritage to Lolo being looked down on for her sex-positive art, to Deadeye’s socially introverted nature and fanatic love of K-pop to Kat’s attempts to cover up her sexually promiscuous past from her devoutly Christian fiance. Each actor brings heart and sincerity to their performance and as their journey takes them across Asia, they grow and bond as a group of friends.

While the central quest to find Audrey’s birth mother involves endless amounts of humour, it crucially finds the time to establish some genuine emotional moments between the group to bring them together, particularly in the third act which is where Park’s performance soars. Balancing the comedy with emotional weight can be a tough balancing act as there’s a risk the comedy will negate the emotional drama. However, Lim expertly handles this balance with assured direction. The similarities with other comedies of this nature are obvious. However, the level of passion which went into the making of the film comes across in both the writing and the performances, with a story that will undoubtedly be relatable to countless millions, plus another significant moment for representation in a comedy that will provide you with endless amounts of joy, and that is never a bad thing.