The latest film by director Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians) is aptly named as it is a true joy ride from start to finish. It tells the tale of four Chinese American friends who embark on a journey to China to find one of their birth mothers. The film is simultaneously raunchy and hilarious, with a few surprisingly poignant moments mixed in, all of that along with an exploration of identity. Along the way, the main characters all learn to love themselves for who they are, even after encountering a few big surprises on that path to enlightenment.
The film follows lawyer Audrey (Ashley Park) an adoptee, as she and her artistic best friend, Lolo (Sherry Cola) head to China on a business trip. Lolo’s chronically online cousin, Dead Eye (Sabrina Woo) joins them as they meet Audrey’s college roommate, Kat (Stephanie Hsu) who has become a successful actress on a television show in China. Kat has offered to act as a translator for a high-pressure business meeting which is putting stress on Audrey who needs to succeed in having a client sign papers so that she will be made a partner at her law firm. Audrey has dreams of making partner and moving to LA, where Kat also plans to move shortly. She has yet to discuss these plans with her roommate, Lolo.
Audrey works hard to impress the client, Mr. Lin, to get him to sign the papers in a wild meeting that takes place in a nightclub. The meeting is full of drinking and even involves a game where they all slap each other. After the meeting goes awry, Mr. Lin invites Audrey to bring her birth mother to a party he is throwing for his own mother in a week. His reasoning is that it would be hard to do business together if they don’t know each other’s families. This plot point is a bit of a stretch, the idea that she could find her birth mother and convince her to attend this party in less than a week is a lot to accept. But Audrey goes along with the plan that Lolo is pushing and so does the audience.
Joy Ride is an incredibly sex positive movie–at times debaucherous, and this is revealed early on with Lolo being labeled a “sex positive artist” who creates genital-filled sculptures such as adult playgrounds that “challenge ideas Asians have around sexuality.” The audience should not be surprised to find themselves in the middle of an erotic sex montage that includes a threesome, a vibrating basketball, a passionate night in a hotel bed, and a K-pop dance-off. There is also a scene with some below the belt, full-nudity that is sprung on the audience for shock value. A shock indeed, it was an effective joke as the audience was laughing hard and long at that scene.
From the very beginning Joy Ride is a fast-paced film that unfortunately leaves little time for reflection on its more emotional moments. It still manages to flow smoothly somehow, quickly rushing from emotional scenes to joke scenes without skipping a beat. There was one moment when the group first gets to China where Audrey remarks that she has never experienced being around only Asian people before. She is in awe because she and Lolo have never had an experience where “we look like everyone else and blend in.” From that deep observation there is no moment to take a beat and let the thought sink in, the plot moves on to a scene where the crew ends up losing their passports after a drug mule accuses them of being the drug carriers on a train. After they encounter a surprising bit of news in China, they must find a way to trek passport-less to Korea to complete their journey, which they always seem to find a way to continue, no matter how outlandish the trek may get.
The main actors put forth strong comedic performances and still managed to make the more poignant moments felt. Ashely Park did an excellent job as Audrey leading the film’s shenanigans in a believable way. Each of the lead actresses and nonbinary folks did a stand-up job with their comic material, all of them with perfect comedic timing. Especially Sabrina Woo, their jokes tended to be some of the biggest, with the best punchlines. There were many cameos in the film, but one that stood out was Daniel Dae Kim as Dae, Audrey’s stepfather. He brought an instant warmth and compassion to the role that really grounded the film in a much-needed way.
Joy Ride had a great soundtrack that starts off with the classic hit Ants Marching, from Dave Matthews Band and continues to bring the hits with songs from the Linda Linda’s, VaVa, Queen WA$ABII, as well as a few tracks from Nathan Matthew David. In the film, the friends pretend to be a K-pop group and give an impromptu performance of Cardi B’s W.A.P. at an airplane hangar, which was used to great effect in the trailer. It’s a powerfully funny moment where everyone is trying their best to channel their inner K-pop star. If a movie must have a song and dance number, this was the way to do it, it was hysterical.
As with many movies, by the end of the film the characters manage to complete their quest in an unexpected way and place. They all have gone on personal journeys, learning about themselves and the world around them, and it was fun to go along with them—perhaps there will be a sequel!
