I am very loco for “Crazy Rich Asians”

As an Asian American, I had to watch the box office hit “Crazy Rich Asians.”

Based off of Kevin Kwan’s bestseller novel of the same name, “Crazy Rich Asians” is a romantic comedy-drama film. It was directed by Jon M. Chu and was released on August 15.

“Crazy Rich Asians” is about Rachel Chu, a Chinese-American professor of economics and game theory at New York University, who visits the home of Nick Young, her Singaporean boyfriend for a wedding, only to discover that his family is one of the country’s wealthiest families.

”I want to go see the movie pretty bad,” said Aly Leonard, 12. “I think I will see a different kind of dynamic in a romance.”

Thank goodness for this movie because there is Asian representation in an American film, which has not been seen in years-especially not in a movie with this large of a budget. The Asian actors of “Crazy Rich Asians” played every role, from the protagonist to the antagonist and from a sidekick to an extra.

In this film, the white actors played very minor roles, unlike many of the American movies I have seen. Also, there have been instances of white actors playing Asian characters, which led to controversy. For instance, when Scarlett Johansson was cast in “Ghost in the Shell” as Motoko Kusanagi, a Japanese character, there was criticism of whitewashing

However, I am not surprised that this is the movie Hollywood decided to produce. Why would Hollywood not choose a film that shows the lives of the richest of the richest Asians?

Also, to look at “Crazy Rich Asians” in a negative light, I began to slowly think that there were more Asians that I thought who are as rich as the Young family.

On the other hand, “Crazy Rich Asians” is the primary reason why visiting Singapore is on my bucket list now. The locations the film used were all gorgeous and intriguing, from their tall, architecturally-unique buildings to their local activities.

I believe “Crazy Rich Asians” will be the movie to lead to more diversity in films, especially surrounding Asians and Asian Americans.