A blockbuster romantic film about a woman who learns her boyfriend is impossibly rich, this wishful but by-the-numbers situational comedy is commercially successful chiefly because of its casting: it is the rare film to be about Asian Americans and to actually cast Asian American performers.  There is little fresh or original about it at all except that the cultural milieu is decidedly different in this otherwise completely conventional Hollywood rom-com.

Jon M. Chu’s film posits that clever and self-sufficient economics professor Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) actually has no idea that the man she has been dating for a year, handsome Nick Young (Henry Golding), comes from one of the wealthiest families in Asia.  On a trip to Singapore for a wedding, Rachel learns Nick’s secret, meets his family and rich friends, and realizes that a great many people would like to replace her as Nick’s favorite, or don’t think she is good enough for him to marry.  How can their romance possibly survive?

This dusty old plot would fit right into a 1930s film, when revealing the secrets of the rich provided escapism to the masses during the Great Depression.  Throw in a couple of musical numbers and it could have starred Anna May Wong (or, more likely, Myrna Loy, and Fred Astaire.  Evidently this ancient scenario still holds appeal because the film is a huge hit.  To be fair, it is quite charming.  Henry Golding is the ultimate boyfriend — polite, humble and probably too good to be true.  The standard best-friend role is absolutely crushed by Awkwafina, who steals the show.  And it is hard not to be impressed by the visuals of Singapore; indeed, a wedding sequence is among the most beautiful I have ever seen staged on film.

Yet the charm and charisma of the performers cannot hide the fact that this material is so well-worn.  None of that will matter to people who don’t watch many movies, or who will be pleasantly surprised to find a strong Asian American story.  It’s a light, clever, moral movie with a fundamental message about allowing love to blossom, whatever the setting, delivered in easy-to-take charming fashion while refusing to demonize its excess.  Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy just about everything else.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  11 November 2018.