Adele Lim (screenwriter of Crazy Rich Asians) directs this comedy that follows four Asian American friends—Audrey (Ashley Park), Lolo (Sherry Cola), Kat (Stephanie Hsu), and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu)—as they bond over a trip through Asia in search of one of their birth mothers. (95 min.)
Glen: Joy Ride is a lot raunchier than I expected, but it’s funny as heck with a lot of heart. The story begins when 5-year-old Audrey (Lennon Yee) meets 5-year-old Lolo (Belle Zhang), the only two Asian kids in the lily-white White Falls suburb of Seattle. Lolo is brash and fearless and the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Jenny (Debbie Fan) and Wey Chen (Kenneth Liu), and Audrey is the eager-to-please adoptee from China to white parents, Mary (Annie Mumolo) and Joe Sullivan (David Denman). We briefly witness them as they grow up, two peas in a pod. The real story, however, begins with Audrey, now an ambitious lawyer hoping to make partner, who is tasked with traveling to China to land a big client. She finagles Lolo, an artist who specializes in uncomfortable sex-charge pieces who’s living in Audrey’s converted garage, to come along as her translator. Lolo, in turn, invites her cousin, Deadeye, a socially awkward K-pop fanatic, to join, and they also pick up Kat, Audrey’s college bestie, who’s now an actress on a Chinese soap opera in love with its hunky male star, Clarence (Desmond Chieng). The players now in place, they set off on a crazy adventure that will teach them the limits of friendship and make them question the meaning of identity and being Asian.
Anna: This film truly was a joy ride—I had so much fun watching mishap after mishap on this squad’s adventure. Audrey feels pressure as an adoptee to always be perfect, ambitious, and overachieving while Lolo is happy to coast along making art and living life one moment at a time with not much planned at all. This is going to feel familiar to a lot of people who are lifelong friends with someone they met very young. A lot of times we grow into being very different people yet remain inexplicably close, and that’s true for these two. They’re soon on their big adventure to China that Audrey insists will be strictly a work trip, but you can guess how that will turn out! Once our foursome is all together, things start to fall apart, and when Audrey can’t close the deal with Chao (Ronny Chieng) because of her disconnection from her Chinese birth family, Lolo steps in with a plan to track down Audrey’s birth mom. A far-fetched scheme? Sure. But I had a lot of fun watching these four try to pull it off, despite one roadblock after the next.
Glen: Speaking of far-fetched, their adventures get very outlandish, from being rescued by a basketball team that leads to promiscuous sex to pretending they’re K-pop stars to get past airport security. Along the way, viewers discover Asians are not a monolith, Audrey discovers she’s not who she thought she was, and the four women discover just how different they are but also how much they mean to one another. Yes, the whole affair is crass, but if you liked Bridesmaids (2011), you’ll love it.
Anna: Total Bridesmaids meets The Hangover vibes with Joy Ride for sure. If you don’t mind things getting a bit raunchy or humor that some may consider lowbrow, and you don’t let wildly unlikely situations ruin your fun, this movie is meant for you. I have no doubt I’ll see this run across one of our streaming platforms at some point and will happily say yes to watching it again.
Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey from New Times and freelancer Anna Starkey write Sun Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jul 13-23, 2023.
