Eleanor Young's attitude towards Rachel changes in China Rich Girlfriendparticularly after she learned that her biological father is a Chinese politician and a billionaire. While Nick becomes suspicious of her sudden change of opinion on Rachel because of this information, Eleanor admits that it's part of it but she also wants to protect them from his grandmother's wrath. Either she accepted Rachel because her real father happens to be rich and that Nick must marry her for her inheritance fearing that he would not get his inheritance from his grandmother after he cut ties from her or because she understood that Nick really loved her for who she is or both.
Is Isabel a genuinely well-meaning person whose BPD gets the best of occasionally, very much against her will? Or is she a full-time manipulative Woman Scorned? Charlie seems to believe the first, but readers are split, especially since Isabel seems to be pretty lax with her treatment and the only scene in her POV is during a breakdown.
Romantic Plot Tumor: Between Rachel's half-brother, Carlton, and Nick's cousin Scheherazade in Rich People Problems.
The Woobie: Rachel can't catch a break ever since she got pulled into the upper class society of the Chinese elite. She got bullied by her boyfriend's ex-girlfriends and judged as a Gold Digger due to her background. Then, she found out about the truth of her biological father the hard way from her boyfriend's mother. Fortunately in the sequel, she managed to get over it and finally met her real father, who she accepted.
Michael tells Astrid that she has a habit of deflecting blame away from herself and towards other people. In the scene where she tells her husband that it wasn't her or her money that ruined their marriage, it was him being a coward, one could easily conclude that Michael was right and she's just shifting blame again. Or Michael could simply be Gaslighting to ignore his own flaws.
When Eleanor sympathetically tells Rachel about her background and what she went through to marry Nick's father, and then harshly says, "you will never be enough," is she simply being pointlessly cruel to Rachel, or is she actually telling Rachel about her own experience? Or both?
A more cynical interpretation of Eleanor is that she was always this cold and calculating, and Ah Mah disapproved of her marriage to Nick's father precisely because she could spot someone who might be a problem. Ah Mah is by contrast very warm and accepting of Rachel (at first anyway), suggesting that Eleanor had lots of personality flaws she had to get rid of over the years to win her mother-in-law over.
Despite being a hit in the US and Asian countries, the film didn't do well in Japan. One of the reasons for its low reception is that there are already tons of stories which tackle on the film's premise of a lower-class woman entering the elite and high class society where her rich boyfriend came from (e.g. Boys over Flowers and Paradise Kiss etc.). Another reason is that there's a lack of recognizable Hollywood actors in the film regardless of the all-Asian cast.
The film didn't do nearly as well in Europe due to cultural taboos against public displays of wealth. See Values Dissonance.
And You Thought It Would Fail: There hasn't been a Hollywood movie with an all-Asian cast in a modern setting since The Joy Luck Club back in 1993. The producers wanted to change the female lead into a white woman believing that casual audiences would not connect with an Asian lead. The director has a spotty filmography and refused Netflix's proposal to fund an entire trilogy believing this was something that deserved a theatrical release. Crazy Rich Asians crushed those doubts after breaking the box office with $238 million worldwide and earning crazy positive reviews. It even received nominations from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors' Guild and the Critics' Choice Awards.
Award Snub: Despite the glowing commercial and critical acclaim, and being the first major Hollywood film in 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast, it lost both its Golden Globe nominations to more traditional Oscar Bait fare. The backlash only worsened when it failed to be nominated in any categories at the 2019 Academy Awards. While the ensemble nature of the piece may have split the acting nominees, many had been expecting a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Gemma Chan, due to her popularity.
Katherine Ho's beautiful cover of Coldplay's "Yellow", playing at a pivotal moment at the end of the film and being absolutely perfect.
Kina Grannis' beautiful acoustic performance of "Can't Help Falling In Love" during the wedding scene.
Catharsis Factor: Of the happy variety. Nick proposing to Rachel on the plane with his mother's ring, the entire plane erupting into applause and Rachel being surprised with an engagement party where all the cast celebrates with her - culminating in Eleanor raising a glass in acceptance. It makes the entire journey all worth it.
Draco in Leather Pants: Eleanor Young is presented in universe as a snobbish and overprotective parent who spends most of the movie trying to get her son Nick to break up with his girlfriend Rachel and is regularly rude towards Rachel. However, due to her genuinely loving Nick, having an excuse of her own abusive mother in law, and being played by Michelle Yeoh, a large group of fangirls are quick to forgive her more abrasive behavior.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Astrid. Her much more sympathetic depiction in the film, plus the fact that she is played by the stunningGemma Chan (decked in lots of gorgeous stylish wear, to boot), has made her one of the film's most popular characters. Some fans have even called for her to get her own series - although book readers remind them that the second installment focuses on Astrid, so she is going to get a bigger role in the sequel.
Foe Yay Shipping: There is a surprisingly large fanbase for shipping Rachel and Eleanor together, particularly in terms of fanfiction. This often ignores that Eleanor spends most of the film trying to get Nick to break it off with Rachel and regularly belittles her for no reason. This is helped by the chemistry between Constance Wu and Michelle Yeoh, Eleanor eventually accepting Rachel and Nick's relationship, and the fact that they are mirror characters.
With Searching, another August 2018 film with an Asian-American lead. Together, these three films are often referred to as "Asian August".
Genius Bonus: To anyone not familiar with the rules of MahJong, the scene near the end where Eleanor seemingly wins the game only for Rachel to turn over her tiles may look as though Rachel actually won the game, analogous to a game of poker in which one player has a better hand than the person originally thought to win. However, players of the game know that by discarding the final tile rather than adding it to her hand and declaring victory, Rachel did in fact lose. Turning over her hand at the end, to reveal a hand that would have won with that final tile, was intended to show Eleanor that - just like the situation with Nick - Eleanor won only because Rachel chose to allow her to. An incredibly in-depth analyis of the mahjong scene can be read here.
Harsher in Hindsight: The fact that this film was lauded as a watershed for Asian representation, with added appreciation for being female-oriented, is certainly this when news came to light about Adele Lim quitting the sequel after discovering a great pay disparity between her and her white AND male co-writer. Lim was being paid much less, if you couldn't tell.
Pierre Png is mostly known in Singapore for playing a nerd in the sitcom Phua Chu Kang, and for donating part of his liver to his wife (then girlfriend) for an emergency procedure. Here he plays a buff ex-Army Commando who cheats on his wife out of insecurity.
Not to mention his wife's character in Phua Chu Kang is played by Tan Kheng Hua, who is now Rachel's mom in the same movie, who also cheated on her spouse from a relationship caused by domestic abuse.
Considering everyone accuses Rachel of being a Gold Digger in this, it's a little amusing that Constance Wu's next high profile role was Hustlers - where she plays a stripper who drugs rich men and robs them.
Peik Lin complaining that Rachel looks like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid (1989) in her red dress becomes this in light of Awkwafina voicing Scuttle in the live-action adaptation five years later.
Some viewers feel that the short scene where Nick and Colin kick back on the secluded Rawa Island, shirtless and drinking beer, oozes more chemistry than their relationship with their respective love interests. It helps that the tiny island is known in real life as a weekend getaway spot for couples, and that Colin jokingly tells Nick, "If it wasn't for Araminta, I think I would marry you."
A considerable number of people ship Astrid with Rachel, with the dead fish burial scene being a favourite of the pairing's fans. (It Makes Sense in Context.) Nick/Rachel does, however, overall avoid being a Much-Hated Official Couple.
"Type Crazy Rich Asians cast on Google" Explanation According to Filipino netizens, if one would type "Crazy Rich Asians cast" on Google search, the Google-generated cast list who feature the glaring photo of Filipina actress Kris Aquino (who made a cameo as a Malay princess) which is out of place from the red carpet photos of her co-stars.
It's become a widespread joke in Singapore to utter the movie's name in response to someone making frivolous lifestyle choices (for example, going to Starbucks for coffee instead of their neighbourhood hawker centre).
"We were inspired by the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles"Explanation Youtube film essayist Accented Cinema used this quote to reference the lack of originality in modern Chinese movies. But eventually became a meme within his audience, as many of the comments in his videos after would occasionally reference the quote.
Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Singaporeans are aware that the movie would not be an accurate representation of their city and its population and that it's written for the Asian-American audiences. Nevertheless, they enjoy the movie as a typical romantic-comedy which showcases the wonders of their city.
Harry Shum Jr. does not appear until the stinger and just smiles at Astrid without a word but there are reports of theaters rejoicing at the mere sight of him. Those who know the books and paid attention to the credits know that he's playing Astrid's ex-boyfriend Charlie.
For Filipino viewers, Kris Aquino's cameo as Princess Intan. She only appears in Araminta's wedding as an important guest who is said to have the whole row for herself and has a few lines with Rachel who admires her for her article on micro-loans that helped women in need, earning her the respect from the Princess and silencing Eleanor and her friends for rejecting her seat.
Kina Grannis showing up to perform the wedding song. Her fans were extremely happy to see her.
And on the plane towards the end, the woman behind Rachel who provides heartwarming comic relief by telling Nick she accepts his proposal and Squeeing along with Kerry, becoming an instant Shipper on Deck.
Overshadowed by Controversy: Co-writer Adele Lim quit the sequel after discovering she was making outrageously less than her fellow writer Peter Chiarelli. Especially notable is that Lim has two decades of writing experience while Chiarelli is just starting out, meaning the usual excuse for a pay gap doesn't apply and there's seemingly no reason for it beyond one being a white man and the other an Asian woman. (Chiarelli, upon discovering it, offered to split his pay with her, agreeing that the disparity was inappropriate.)
Tear Jerker: Astrid's situation after she confronts her husband who was cheating on her provides a sad contrast to the warm and loving atmosphere of Colin and Araminta's wedding.
Unintentional Period Piece: An unusual case. Kevin Kwan's family left Singapore in the eighties, so some of the references he makes are quite dated - for instance, in a footnote for the first book, he writes that the Chinese name for Southeast Asia, "Nanyang", is also the name of a Mandarin-speaking Singaporean academy. While this was true of the original Nanyang University, it has since merged with another college to form the Nanyang Technological University, which is an English-speaking institution with a diverse student body.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Kitty is meant to be disliked as a shallow Gold Digger who's only getting movie parts because of her relationship. But at the wedding, she goes out of her way to be nice to Rachel and compliment her dress - showing she's not an Alpha Bitch like Amanda. This results in her being a bit more likable than intended.
Values Dissonance: The reason why the film wasn't as positively received in Europe is a fixation on what some people have called "wealth porn". Unlike Asia or America, in Europe showing off luxury in public is often frowned upon as classist or snobbish, and the film with its reveling in exorbitant amounts of wealth (in particular absurdly expensive clothes and jewelry), even in situations where it doesn't really add anything to the plot, unfortunately fell right into this trap. The scene where the "down-to-earth" Astrid orders her uniformed Filipino maids to hide several million dollars' worth of newly-purchased jewelry can be rather discomforting for this reason.
Vanilla Protagonist: Some viewers found Rachel a bit dull in comparison to the other characters. As the Audience Surrogate, she's rather perfect and wholesome and her relationship with Nick is likewise perfect - with the only obstacle being his mother and jealous admirers. Many viewers found Astrid or Eleanor to be more interesting characters.
Watched It for the Representation: Asian-Americans turned out in droves for the first major film to have an all-Asian American cast in 25 years, and one that focused on both Singaporean Chinese and Chinese-American culture. Unprecedentedly, Asian-Americans made up almost 40% of the premiere weekend box office.
The Woobie: Astrid even more so in the film, because this time it's implied Michael actually is cheating on her (rather than faking it as an excuse to end their marriage like in the novel). Gemma Chan makes her such a Nice Girl that it's heart breaking to see her so sad for most of the run time.
which tackle on the film's premise of a lower-class woman entering the elite and high class society where her rich boyfriend came from (e.g. Boys over Flowers and Paradise Kiss etc.). Another reason is that there's a lack of recognizable Hollywood actors