So while we have had plenty of bawdy all male comedies in the past the female equivalent have been few and far between with the last notable one being Girls Trip but like a pornstar cycling down a cobbled street we’ve not come this way before because Joy Ride balances out its bawdy laughs with serious themes of identity and friendship.
Directed by Adele Lim, whose previous films as a writer include Crazy Rich Asians this time has Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola), friends from early childhood bonded by their Chinese American heritage. Audrey is the more sensible of the two with Lolo a chaotic rambunctious girl who’s only too happy to punch out the racist boy in the playground who tries to pick on them. When the two girls first meet in the face of a callously racist schoolboy It’s a touching opening scene and a reminder of how cruel children can be to others.
Now grown up Audrey is offered a potentially career boosting promotion to close a business deal in China and brings along Lolo, now a penniless artist, as her translator. Along for the joy ride they bring Lolo’s cousin the K-pop obsessed Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) and hook up with their friend Kat (Stephanie Hsu) a successful actress in China now with a chaste but hunky religious and virginal boyfriend wholly unaware of her past that’s so promiscuous that should she die there and then she’d be buried in a Y-shaped coffin.
So from their US home city the four in China immediately hit a cultural change and it’s the basis of a many sharp insights and whip smart quips about cultural identity and stereotypes as well a reminder that all races have the potential to be racist especially for Audrey that best encapsulated in a scene on a train where they select a carriage with a lone white American girl on the basis that they will be safe. It’s one of the films many highlights when it all goes catastrophically awry.
As an ensemble film the four leads are great with Audrey and Lolo to the fore and it’s their friendship, as is the wont of such films, is put to the test before the inevitable making up and realization of the strength of their friendship, But those moments of identity exploration are mixed up with some phenomenally bawdy moments with some gloriously filthy and inappropriate jokes that makes Joy Ride a joyful ride!
related feature: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ – REVIEW
related feature: Olivia Colman’s film Joyride trailer
related feature: Our invite to the Joy Ride VIP party!
Here’s the Joy Ride trailer……
