Not being familiar with the leads, I wasn't taken up by Crazy Rich Asians when I first saw the gaudy poster for the movie in a theatre in Taiping. Then, I saw the trailer and the glowing reviews in the Net and decided to catch it in a theatre while in Kuala Lumpur. It was a great movie all right, funny and warm, with great actors and Chinese evergreen songs throughout, not to mention bewitching scenes of Singapore. Part of the Asian casts are either Korean, Japanese or Filipino; the mostly Chinese casts come from different parts of the world. Shot mainly in Singapore, there are of course Chinese from the island, most notably Tan Kheng Hua and Pierre Png of Phua Chu Kang' s fame. Ronny Chieng and ex- bond girl, Michelle Yeoh are both from neighbouring Malaysia; Gemma Chan from Britain and Chris Pang from Australia. While the female lead, Constance Wu is an American born Chinese, other Americans like Jimmy O. Yang has roots in Hong Kong and 91-year-old Lisa Lu, a younger version whom I saw a few days ago in a rerun of an old Shaw movie, The14 Amazons, probably needs no introduction. Harry Shum Jr. is a pure Chinese born in Costa Rica; his mother being from Hong Kong and father, from mainland China.Then, some of the casts are part-Chinese like Awkwafina whose real name, Nora Lum, is part Chinese, part Korean and Remy Hii has English blood from his mother side. The leading man, Henry Holding is a Malaysian and is half English, half Iban. Though not Chinese, the Asian has a wife with Chinese roots; an Italian-Taiwanese with the surname, Lo.
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