Directed By Adele Lim
Starring – Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola
The Plot – The hilarious and unapologetically explicit story of identity and self-discovery centers on four unlikely friends who embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure. When Audrey’s (Park) business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the aid of Lolo (Cola), her irreverent, childhood best friend who also happens to be a hot mess; Kat (Hsu), her college friend turned Chinese soap star; and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s eccentric cousin. Their no-holds-barred, epic experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging, and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.
Rated R for adult language, drug use, and scenes of sexual situations
POSITIVES
Unlike “No Hard Feelings”, which often felt restrained in its exploration of crude humor, “Joy Ride” has no problems expressing the extent of its R-rated material, both in the infectious energy of Adele Lim’s debut direction, but also in the unapologetic mayhem of its material, which seems to allude to anything crazy that can happen, often will. Lim feels right at home here, inscribing a freshly stylistic vibe and tonal consistency to the film that pays off in spades towards the movie’s presentation, which colorfully bold text conveying transition sequences in location, but also in clever song choices disperesed continuously throughout her production, which often gain the audience access into the psychology of the characters, for what they’re feeling throughout the many humiliating instances that get us closer to them than even their characters would probably appreciate. The gags themselves are extremely loud and even frequently childish throughout, but effective all the same at maintaining a comfortable consistency in laugh distribution, especially with a late second act music video performed by the girls, that brings with it more than a few surprises beneath the surface. Aside from the gags, the film is also blessed with an abundance of heart, but never the kind that entirely sacrifices the magnitude of its comedic material, instead solidifying a richly touching third act that helps to take the sting away from a third act break-up that seems like a necessity anymore for comedies. The friendship dynamic of Audrey and Lolo is most integral, fleshing out what is not only a lived-in amount of chemistry between them that seamlessly articulates itself in the balance of their versatile personalities, but also a duo of performances between them, which in Sherry Cola’s case feels like the kind of scene-stealing turn that made Melissa McCarthy or Tiffany Haddish stand out in their respective ensemble-driven films. Cola’s free-spirited confidence gives her character a fearless approach within the discomforts of the movie’s material, and in turn sets her up for many of the best pay-offs, whether entirely intended or not, for the sake of her characterization. Likewise, the film’s script tapping into the many angles of racism, not only with the white privileged, is one I found insightfully endearing, especially since here it ranges closer to our main protagonist than we’re essentially used to. Because she’s of Asian ethnicity and adopted by white parents, her cultural backlash comes as expected, but what isn’t as expected is her preconceived prejudice towards her own nationality, bringing with it many compelling talking points inside of her characterization that solidifies her as anything but flawless.
NEGATIVES
Because this film goes to the extent of being unabashedly crude with its comedy, the exchanges and actions of the characters rarely come off as naturally organic, instead making “Joy Ride” feel like a movie within a movie that cuts into the believability in the sequencing of its events. This is especially prominent with the dialogue, which is overtly desparate to include a curse word or crude observation in every sentence, during certain instances where subtleties and nuance would better serve the integrity of the surrounding environment, which never seems to factor in to these juvenilles posing as adults. Beyond this, the experience is plagued with aggressive pacing of the worst variety, which not only cuts into the development of certain subplots, but also envelopes the experience with a fernetic essence of urgency that offers very few moments of down time to live within the stakes and growing concerns of the girls’ journey. This is most prominently felt during the movie’s first half, which squeezes so many sequences into a forty minute period that I found myself thrown off by just where we were at in the narrative, initially believing the film to be in the climax, when in reality the second act was just getting started. At 85 brief minutes, certain character dynamics feel dramatically undercut, with abrupt developments that essentially come out of nowhere, and considering where the film wraps with them, many of the movements feel insensitively condensed and undervalued when compared to other scenes that I frankly didn’t care about. Finally, there are a few scattered plot holes throughout the engagement that from a logic standpoint didn’t make sense, keeping my investment inside of believability feeling a bit strained as a result. Asking for logic from a raunchy comedy might not be the most rewarding argument, but considering it pertains to aspects inside of the story that alienate rules that the script itself firmly established, I think it’s fair to say these elements deserved a little more focus to flesh out the actions of the characters.
OVERALL
“Joy Ride” isn’t without creative bumps in the road, especially in its gaping plot holes and heavy-handed dependency on raunchy dialogue to please a rating. However, the consistency of laughs, dazzling radiance in presentation, and brief run time provide enough fuel for Adele Lim to reach her destination ahead of schedule, solidifying what is easily the bigger and bolder raunchy comedy of the summer.
My Grade: 7/10 or B
Great review! It seems like raunchy comedy is have a bit of a renaissance this summer! This one sounds like a lot of fun, but I do dislike it when they feel the need to shoehorn curse words when it really isn’t necessary. I think when it is used sparingly it makes the use that more impactful. I still want to see this one, although it will probably have to wait until streaming. I’m interested to see the dynamic between the four friends and how the story plays out!
I may fit this in as a night off movie. Everyone needs a comedy flick now and again. Thank you for the review.
Finally got around to seeing this one, and I got to say that while I absolutely agree with your negatives as well as your score, I can’t emphasize enough just how much I laughed during the movie. From a purely comedic standpoint, I do think that it’s the funniest film of the year and that it had a chance to be a new comedy classic. However, as you pointed out, the movie is so obsessed with always trying to be funny that it loses the genuine sentiment and good-natured heart that it could’ve had. Every time I started to get legimately invested, the film insisted on going for a joke and the overwhelming use of crude dialogue/profanity did get exhausting by the end. But I still had a blast with this one and it sounds like you did as well for the most part. Great work!