Joy Ride is another entry into the comeback of raunchy comedies this year, or to put it more aptly, the raunchaissance. Unfortunately it’s not one I connected to as much as the others but enjoyed my time enough to laugh at a few jokes and appreciate its concept. It’s refreshing to see a female led comedy that is written and directed by women. It feels like an arbitrary win for a film like this to get wide release but considering Barbie is the first solo female directed film to gross over a billion dollars, it's good to take these wins. It’s also another example that a comedy can work that isn’t about an awkward young white boy trying to win the girl.
Starting off the film, we meet Audrey, who is living with her adopted parents in the US, they approach a new family in town, Lolo’s family. The two girls meet and connect immediately, becoming best friends as we watch a montage of them growing up together and eventually living together. Lolo lives in the garage of Audrey’s house, who is now a big time lawyer. She has a business opportunity which will send her to China to close a big deal. Classic adventure setup, vague deal that is to be closed, must be closed.
We set off, meeting Lolo’s cousin Deadeyes along the way. Our final member of the group is Kat, a famed actress in China and an instant enemy of Lolo as they fight to prove their friendship with Audrey.
The story takes a turn from a business adventure to one of discovery as Audrey starts her journey to find her birth mother and connect to her Chinese heritage.
While I didn’t find the whole film to be a personal joy ride, I think the characters were charismatic enough to carry it. The jokes that did work for me, mostly worked because of the delivery, in particular, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu’s performances. I think the plot is perfectly fine one, not complicated, giving enough room for jokes and little side plots to go on around it. I can’t exactly place why it didn’t work 100% for me because it feels like all the elements were there, I just thought it just didn’t quite deliver on what it was selling.
Humour is obviously a very subjective thing but for me, the reliance on crude humour to “push a boundary” doesn’t exactly resonate with me to make me laugh every time. I feel the constant dependence on jokes like these do cheapen the good jokes that are in there. Again, very subjective, I’m wrong and not funny so what do I know.
The actual technical side of this film is sleek, it blends a few styles with the classic flat and bright lighting of a modern comedy, with the medium breaking sequences where the style changes up for comedic effect. We have a scene from Kat’s show which ramps up the cheesy sound effects and bright red VFX blood splatter, or the over the top dance routine that the girls do while trying to convince airport security that they are K-pop idols. These little breaks in form do help to keep the energy up throughout the film, with the simplistic plot, these plot divisions are welcome to fill the runtime with some ridiculousness.
With its reported $32 million budget, it stretches it pretty far, not cheaping out on the locations or VFX to make it a pretty clean looking film. Nothing special or experimental is done with the camera or editing which allows the jokes and story to take precedent.
The music also follows this journey, not getting in the way, ramping up when we’re transitioning between scenes or watching a montage of cocaine use, sexual ventures or nightclub slap contests.
Not the most in depth movie review but I also don’t have a lot of authority to speak on a lot of this film’s topics and themes. I am always happy to see different cultures showcased in films. We don’t often get a full 2 hour comedy film based in Chinese culture, written and directed by women and starring women where the story isn’t focused on a love story. I’m excited to see more of these types of comedies crop up, getting new perspectives and new styles of humour.
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