Jimmy O. Yang – Tripping Through Gateways

Fantasy Island is a show mainly remembered for Ricardo Montalban as Mr. Rourke and his assistant Tattoo played by Hervé Villechaize. The show was an anthology series where every week, guests would arrive to fulfill a fantasy. Usually it was for an adventure to address a regret. The show was remade for television in 1998 with Malcolm McDowell stepping in as a more sinister Mr. Roarke.

Twenty Years later Blumhouse has given us an updated version that may or may not be meant to begin a franchise. And…

Well, I did not hate it.

But to be clear, it is not really that good either. Now, the big deal made was that this was a horror re-imagining of the series. Except, not really. It follows the formula pretty closely. People arrive to live out fantasies that seem impossible. There is a sentimental story, a live the big life dream, an adventure and petty revenge. The petty revenge ends up being the horror plot (as was common on the series, Fantasy Island often had at least a few scary episodes each season). And the fantasies turning on themselves is totally part of the franchise.

The movie brings everyone together at some point, all their fantasies coalescing into a fight for survival. Most of the cast is okay, though I really was bummed that Michael Peña is so…well, not invested. He constantly feels like he has a better role lined up so he is just delivering his lines as fast as possible so as to be done with the film.

The twists are somewhat predictable, but fine…save one. The film’s biggest twist requires a scene that has to happen to keep the audience in the dark…but the minute you discover the twist, that scene makes absolutely no sense.

The film is pretty much TV movie level, and hey, maybe rent it when it hits streaming or Red Box?

In Jon Chu’s adaption of the book by Kevin Kwan, Rachel and Nick have been dating awhile. Nick invites her to go with him to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding. What Rachel is unprepared for is the discovery that Nick comes from one of the richest families in Singapore.

As she tries to integrate with the family, many see her as nothing but a gold digger. Nick’s mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) is a proper woman who believes Nick should not be involved with an American. And so begins a comedy about being in love and facing obstacles.

Crazy Rich Asians is, oddly enough, one of those rare situations where a pretty standard romantic comedy is also an important moment for entertainment. It has been almost 25 years since Hollywood has produced a movie with an almost entirely Asian cast.

So does it work? Yeah. As far as romantic comedies go, no new grounded is broken. The is a wacky friend, a sassy gay friend, an untrusting mother of the boyfriend. The film has an over the top bachelor and bachelorette party. Some of this is amped up by Rachel finding herself surrounded by opulence. Even her college friend Peik (Awkwafina) is from a fairly rich family.

But the story is well done. The jokes are funny and the emotion is there. Nick is the decent rich guy (as is his sister Astrid). Rachel is kind but determined. And the film actually finds a thoughtful resolution with its central conflict.

One of my favorite gags occurs right at the start of the film, when there is a fun view of “telephone tag” after someone sees Nick and Rachel in a restaurant. And the film has a really great (and in Hollywood tradition, largely attractive) cast.

Crazy Rich Asians did not rewrite the romcom, but it did do it exceptionally well.

On the day that they drop off their daughter for her senior year of college, Dan announces to Deanna that he has been cheating on her with another woman and wants a divorce. Broken hearted, Deanna decides to rectify her one big regret in life…that she quite college to marry Dan. She signs up at her daughters school (which is Deanna’s old school) to complete her archeology degree.

She runs into mean girls, makes friends with the girl’s in her daughter’s sorority and even strikes up a romance with a much younger guy.

The film relies pretty heavily on college movie tropes, but never does a lot of interesting things with them. The conflicts are mostly quickly resolved with very little impact. For example, the Mean Girls subplot runs through the entire film, it’s resolution is solved by a sentence and suddenly, those girls think Deanna and her friends are okay. Late in the film Deanna does something that hurts her daughter, and they get over it right away, since the action backfires on Deanna and threatens her education.

On the other hand, in spite of McCarthy playing Deanna as talkative and awkward, her daughter and the sorority sisters embrace her right away. And while played for humor, the relationship with fraternity guy Jack is actually kind of cute. They bond right away over wine and he genuinely likes her.

In spite of the film not really doing much with it’s tropes, I did get some laughs (Especially when McCarthy is sharing the screen with Rudolph). It is a pretty light comedy, and can be enjoyed on a lazy rainy afternoon.

Tag: Jimmy O. Yang

Live Your Fantasy (Fantasy Island, 2020)

Life In Excess (Crazy Rich Asians, 2018)

Back On Your Feet (Life of the Party, 2018)