From the attractive leads to the ridiculously romantic proposal to the lavish house porn, Crazy Rich Asians is the ultimate romantic comedy. But if you’ve read the book, it’s a whole lot more because beyond its Cinderella-ish skeleton are a number of complicated and real human stories.
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Like any book-to-film adaption, there’s going to be a lot of differences and condensed plot points. Some are minor, some are entire side stories. For instance, Eleanor Sung-Young (Michelle Yeoh) is a lot more scheme-y in Kevin Kwan‘s book and Awkwafina‘s character Goh Peik Lin has a larger and funnier presence.
That epic proposal scene in the film? Yeah, didn’t actually happen. In fact, Rachel and Nick don’t get engaged until book two if memory serves me correct.
It makes sense though – we, the viewers – froth a happy ending so Hollywood‘s going to give us one… minus a couple of (big) bumps along the way.
So, what didn’t make it into the Crazy Rich Asians film?
A threesome – a bloody spicy threesome.
In the film:
We initially meet a seemingly nice woman named Amanda who befriends and ‘supports’ Rachel. However, Mandy is actually Nick’s ex-girlfriend who’s just another horrible mean girl who’s partly responsible for the dead fish prank.
In the book:
Rachel’s enemy is a woman named Francesca, another ex-girlfriend. At the wedding reception, Francesca tells Rachel that she, Mandy, and Nick once had a threesome which leads to a major argument between Nick and Rachel – Francesca’s goal.
In the film, Francesca and Amanda’s characters are kinda merged into one.
This side story, in comparison to a whole gutted fish in a bed, loses out so I can understand the cut although it would have added so much more.
A Fake Affair
In the film:
Astrid is married to army man turned start-up guy Michael. Early on in the film, we learn he’s having an affair with someone in Hong Kong. Astrid is devastated and by the end of the film, she leaves Michael to wallow in his own self-pity in their apartment.
At Rachel and Nick’s engagement party Astrid spies a handsome mystery man named Charlie Wu (Harry Shum Jr.) from across the bar.
OOoOOooOOo.
In the book:
Michael is not having an affair. He’s faking an affair because he can’t handle the pressure of being married to someone so rich.
After discovering the fake affair, Astrid genuinely tries to patch things up with Michael and she has some help. But it’s not Rachel or Nick or Grandma, it’s her ex-fiancé, Charlie Wu. So, Charlie actually has a pretty major role in the book because, even though he’s still in love with Astrid, he wants to see her happy.
It’ll be interesting to see how his character plays out in the sequel.
Love triangle coming in hot!
On one hand, if Jon M. Chu was saving this for the sequel – fair enough. On the other, this could have been an interesting side story that could have enhanced the film and given us more of the brilliant Gemma Chan.
Anal?
In the film:
This particular scene was a bit confusing – one moment Rachel and Nick are lovingly staring into each other’s eyes at Colin‘s wedding reception, and the next moment Grandma’s being mean and we find out Rachel’s ‘dad’ is not dead, like we thought all along.
As it turns out, Kerry’s ex-husband Fang Min and ex-mother-in-law were terribly abusive, however the only mention we get of this is something along the lines of, “He was not a good man”.
To protect Rachel from this news, Kerry initially tells Rachel her father died a long time ago.
When she could escape from her husband, Kerry would meet and fall in love with her neighbour named Kao Wei – Rachel’s actual father.
Kao Wei helped Kerry escape to America.
In the book:
So how do we know Kao Wei is definitely Rachel’s father? Well because Fang Min had some “peculiar habits”.
To be exact:
Kerry shifted in her chair awkwardly, searching for the right words to explain. “One of these reasons I had such a hard time getting pregnant was because Fang Min had peculiar habits, Rachel. Because of his drinking, he had trouble getting erect, and when he was excited, he only liked to have a certain type of sex, and I knew I could not get pregnant that way.
Oh.
This aside, “he only liked to have a certain type of sex” suggests sexual coercion. But, Kerry also endured her ex-husband’s violent alcoholic behaviour, manipulative behaviour, numerous infidelities, physical abuse, and sexual violence – none of which was really mentioned in the film.
Again, this could definitely appear in the sequel but as it stands, the entire ‘explanation’ scene felt skin-deep at most as if we were being rushed through this resolution to be back on our merry way to the happy ending.
Even Rachel’s reaction to her mother’s experience was so condensed.
Hollywood does do this a lot so it’s expected. Films are a form of escapism so things are going to be watered down but sometimes, sometimes we want to see real life reflected on our screens… even if it’s in a wonderfully lush romcom.
(More minor spoilers ahead.)
Take Paper Towns by John Green for example. When I first watched the film I thought it was just a cute road trip movie about chasing after a girl who was ~ free ~ and getting back in time for your high school prom. It was light and airy and even though the ending was not what I expected, it wrapped on a high note.
The book – not so much. It’s frustrating and complicated and not even a little bit airy.
The Time Traveler’s Wife was on TV the other night and apart from a few random moments, it’s a typical romance movie with a time travelling twist and a sort of happy ending – you know the gist. But the book – well, the ending’s actually heartbreaking which is why they probably changed it. The book’s just sadder and more depressing in general.
(… not to mention the Disney versions of some classic and violent folk tales but that’s for another day.)
Why did I read The Time Traveler’s Wife you maybe asking? It was the only book in English at a hotel.
Of course, there are some excellent and spot on book-to-film adaptions including The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Princess Bride, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Crazy Rich Asians is in cinemas now.
Buy the book, HERE.
