Joy Ride

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Joy Ride follows childhood friends Audrey and Lolo as they navigate China to close a business deal and reunite Audrey with her birth mother. There's a part of me that went into this thinking about the quintessential American road trip comedy, how when I was a kid that was defined by The Hangover and the main Asian performance was Ken Jeong (who did great but played on a few stereotypes). To see how far we've come here with something really strongly Asian-American led, with some great tongue in cheek type humour and some thematic work that lands some heavy emotional punches is great to see. Joy Ride really thrives on the core group of four characters, the dynamics established and the intense chemistry between them all. Seriously, a comedic feature where the four leads all bounce off one another effortlessly is such a hit. I think because the chemistry is so good you believe in the interactions, the humour flows freely and those emotional moments really matter. I often felt like this was a film that landed the heavier moments far better than the comedic ones. There's a massive theme of identity and feeling like one doesn't belong in this film and they really drive their point home quite nicely; the twist around Audrey's identity is better than I really expected for a comedy feature. I also think this film deserves major props for changing the narrative around Asian women and their sexuality; often Asian women are presented as sex symbols in media so it was nice this film had the protagonists have ownership over their own sexual experiences and identity.

The editing for this feature is pretty timely, often having a real sense of the gags and landing the flow of the shots in an almost perfect manner.

 

Sherry Cola, who played Lolo, manages to be the crassest of the main cast and also nails her delivery consistently; Cola really is the most naturally fun of the leading four and I was often in stitches when she got to lead a scene. Timothy Simons, who played Frank, is quite a bit of good fun as the 'white ally' boss; Simons finds the right amount of over the top to try and sell the audience his sense of social justice. Sabrina Wu, who played Deadeye, is the more oddball comedic role and kind of a sleeper hit; yet what I liked about Wu was their ability to present a character struggling to find where they fit in in such a genuine way. Stephanie Hsu, who played Kat, really presents a vain role who is really holding together a sort of perfect life fantasy; I really enjoyed seeing Hsu ham it up in her 'horny' scene and when her career tanks after her tattoo is exposed. Ronny Chieng, who played Chao, is hysterical as the extremely intense Chinese businessman; his weary and strict approach to tradition makes the pivot into the second act a ton of fun. Chris Pang, Rohain Arora and Alexander Hodge, who played Kenny, Arvind and Todd respectively, have an incredible amount of charisma that really lend to the sexual appeal of their scenes; Pang in particular is incredibly smooth with his line delivery. Lori Tan Chinn, who played Nai Nai Chen, is able to be surprisingly funny at moments you wouldn't expect from her role; yet I also found Chinn's performance to be very sweet and kind-hearted. Michelle Choi-Lee, who played Min Park, gives a staggeringly powerful performance in her one scene; Choi-Lee's scene is a hello and goodbye of sorts that will absolutely wring at your heartstrings. Daniel Dae Kim, who played Dae, is such a soft and kindly figure; watching him ease us into the introduction of Choi-Lee's character was the perfect set-up for my favourite scene in the film.

However, the best performance came from Ashley Park, who played Audrey. This is a protagonist who has never really connected with her Asian identity or heritage and has wholeheartedly embraced her American upbringing. Park does a fantastic job of portraying this overachiever who doesn't want to face hard truths or difficult moments; she crafts Audrey as someone who is really driven to succeed. I love how Park really connects quite differently with her three onscreen friends; she has a very laidback familiarity with Cola, Hsu and her are more high energy and excitable and then the relationship with Wu is one she develops and works on. Seeing this role get further and further out of her depth the more she is faced with her past is really fascinating. I actually thought the emotional impact we got from Park once her character discovers the truth around her mother is some of the best acting you get within Joy Ride.

This feature was one that held you for long spans of time but could misstep and lose you for decent stretches as well. As a comedy this film was content with aiming for the lowbrow at times, which was disappointing because it often showed a pretty witty script. But there were a lot of moments where repetitive crass jokes made the film start to fizzle, there needed to be more moments where the comedy could look a little different and unique from scene to scene. The ending of Joy Ride really dropped the ball too, things just ended a little too simply and abruptly. All of the relationships were repaired in a very non-confrontational way and then the four characters met up overseas for another trip. It just felt too mellow after the extremes the feature had just taken the audience through.

The cinematography had some great moments but often just felt quite boxed up, there really wasn't a great sense of space in the film as a whole. Also, Blonde already cursed the idea of a camera shot taken from inside a vagina, I didn't need the repeat. The score for the feature is nothing to comment on and the soundtrack has some nice artists but no tracks that really left a noteworthy tone. I even felt the Kpop parody number was a bit of a disconnect from what it was trying to imitate; to the extent it wasn't as funny as the trailer tried to tease.

Debbie Fan, Kenneth Liu, Annie Mumolo and David Denman, who played Jenny Chen, Wey Chen, Mary Sullivan and Joe Sullivan respectively, were quite generic as the parent roles of the two lead characters; it felt like these four were meant to inform our leads quite a bit but they really just felt like bystanders in their big scenes. Desmond Chiam, who played Clarence, really feels like he's trying too hard to reach the comedy of his role; Chiam's over the top nervous Christian boyfriend role just doesn't land as well and flounders against everything Hsu is bringing to that subplot. Meredith Hagner, who played Jess, is quite a limited role that isn't bolstered by Hagner's performance; this drug dealer character is shifty but doesn't lend much more scope than that and is a weak transition into the classic American comedy drug scene. Baron Davis, who played himself, seems to not be so confident in his acting compared to the rest of the cast; Davis feels like he's saying lines he has rehearsed and doesn't work naturally into his scenes.

 

A comedy that feels fresh and has some absolutely wonderful themes around second-generation Asian identity. I would give Joy Ride a 7/10.