PORTLAND, Maine — [Editor's note: This article is a critical analysis of a film and does not represent the views of NEWS CENTER Maine, but that of the author.]
The road movie has a long history in cinema featuring characters on a trip that are fundamentally changed by the film's conclusion.
And the newest entry in the genre is "Joy Ride," a comedy about four friends traveling through China to salvage a sputtering business deal.
Story
Audrey Sullivan (Ashley Park) works in Seattle as an attorney and lives with her best friend Lolo Chen (Sherry Cola).
She is being sent to China to help finalize a business deal with a company there, and it will mean a big promotion at her firm. She's taking Lolo along to translate as Audrey doesn't speak Mandarin or Cantonese.
Tagging along on the trip at the last minute is Lolo's cousin, Deadeye (Sabrina Wu). And while in China, Audrey plans to meet up with her college roommate, an actress named Kat (Stephanie Hsu).
The group proves to be rather chaotic together as Lolo and Kat are constantly at each other's throats, and Deadeye has their own brand of chaos full of social awkwardness and a K-pop obsession.
Audrey meets with a man named Chao (Ronny Chieng), who she must convince to finalize the deal with her company. But Chao finds himself disillusioned by the fact Audrey doesn't seem to have much connection to China as she was adopted by two white American parents. Chao tells Audrey he doesn't want to do business with someone that doesn't even know who they are.
That's when Lolo swoops in and lies, informing Chao that Audrey is actually very close with her Chinese birth mother. Moved by their connection, Chao tells Audrey to come to an event he's hosting for his mother and to bring her own mom. Then he'll sign the business deal.
So, the group sets off across China to track down Audrey's mother whom she's never met before. And, as the trailer shows, hijinks ensue. It's not a road movie if funny things don't happen along the journey.
Analysis
"Joy Ride" is billed as a raunchy comedy. That's what the trailers are full of, with jokes about sex and drugs, nothing out of place in the road movie genre. And while that's certainly a key component of the overall film, "Joy Ride" may have sold itself short on just how much heart it packs into the final act, as well as the important conversation surrounding identity and figuring out who you are.
The movie takes a little bit to find itself, beginning with a cute opening and then coasting for a few scenes until its main characters arrive in China.
"Joy Ride" does a wonderful job of giving each member of the traveling group their own personalities, quirks, and goals. And this really does feel like a group of friends thrown together by circumstance on a wacky journey, the epitome of a road movie.
This isn't a film afraid to earn its R rating. It leans hard into the drug and sex scenes, and viewers will either laugh their heads off, or they won't.
To its credit, "Joy Ride" is never boring. It's packed with wacky distractions and circumstances that lend the film its own brand of craziness.
But where it truly excels is in Audrey's quest to find out exactly who she is. "Joy Ride" makes it clear that Asian individuals aren't a monolith, and the continent is full of different nations and people, each with their own collective identities and culture just like anywhere else in the world.
A good portion of the movie is Audrey asking herself questions like if she can feel at home in China, if she's "Asian enough" or "too white" because of how she behaves with her adopted family. These are important questions, not just for her, but for an audience that can relate to finding themselves amid similar cultural nuance.
The final act comes with a heartfelt, tear-jerking moment that may be a surprise to folks who just expected comedy. When Audrey finally finds her mother, that's when the waterworks begin. And it reminds the audience "Joy Ride" is more than meets the eye.
Also playing this weekend
For people wanting to scream instead of laugh, there's a new horror film out this weekend called "Insidious: The Red Door." Here's the synopsis:
"The Lamberts must go deeper into The Further than ever before to put their demons to rest once and for all."
To see which movies are playing at a theater near you, click here.
For more movie thoughts, follow Courtney Lanning on Twitter here.