Audrey feels out of place both at home and in China.

(And that’s just the stuff we can mention in a family newspaper, folks.)īut what makes “Joy Ride” special is getting to know the personalities and their quirks, with each of the four main characters wrestling with identity issues and needing a dose of self-discovery. The quartet hit the road seeking Audrey's long-lost parent and dive into a series of madcap shenanigans, from doing an excessive amount of drugs to meeting up with ex-NBA star Baron Davis to disguising themselves as a K-pop quartet called Brownie Tuesday just to catch a plane. Lolo comes along as a translator (since Audrey isn’t fluent in Chinese) and brings her awkward BTS-loving cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), and they meet up with Kat (recent Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu), Audrey’s college bestie who’s now an A-list Chinese soap-opera star. She and her childhood friend Lolo (Sherry Cola), a trash-talking free spirit making sex-positive art while living in Audrey’s backyard, have long talked about one day finding Audrey’s birth mother, and an opportunity arises on a business trip to Beijing to do that plus land an important deal. It’s the kind of film where everybody will have their own favorite characters and riotous episodes but it doesn’t need A-list cameos or needle drops to make a mark – though it does boast one instantly memorable K-pop remix of a Cardi B hit.Īshley Park stars as Audrey, a successful lawyer adopted from China as a little girl by white parents. The dudes of “The Hangover” walked so the women of “Bridesmaids” and “Girls Trip” could run, leading now to the talented cast of “Joy Ride” causing all manner of raunchy international chaos.įour very different Asian American friends go on a gut-busting trip to Beijing that explodes tropes and stereotypes and bursts with heart in the smartly paced, fabulously unhinged and proudly explicit comedy (★★★½ out of four, rated R, in theaters Friday), the directorial debut for “Crazy Rich Asians” writer Adele Lim.

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