JOY RIDE review by Diana Perry Schnelle
When Audrey ( Ashley Park ), an Asian-American lawyer , must go to Beijing to close a business deal , she brings along her childhood best friend , Lolo ( Sherry Cola ), as her translator . The two friends have grown up to be very different — Lolo is an artist who makes explicit sex-positive artworks and lives in Audrey ’ s basement , while Audrey is successful and on track to become a partner in her law firm — but as girls they bonded over being the only Asian- Americans in their very white American town . As part of the trip , Audrey wants to connect with her old college friend Kat ( Stephanie Hsu ), who has become a famous actress in China . At the last moment , Lolo invites her quirky cousin Deadeye ( Sabrina Wu ) along for what turns into a crazy road trip . And , in the vein of many road trip movies , at the heart of this comedy are a lot of raunchy shenanigans and convoluted plot twists that test the women and their friendship .
What sets Joy Ride apart from the usual “ buddies on the road getting into trouble ” movie is the all-female Asian-American cast , and how the script highlights and then dispels stereotypes about Asian women and members of the Asian diaspora . The movie can be very funny ; a hilarious bit about Korean pop ( K-pop ) bands is simultaneously silly and smart . But at other times the movie feels so aggressively irreverent and insistently naughty — in all senses of the word — that it can feel boringly repetitive in its insistence that these women are living their best lives . There ’ s a lot to like here , from clever self-referential comments about the importance of Asian representation and digs about inter-Asian discrimination , to a scene that shows how much extra work Audrey has to do to prove her professional place as a woman of color surrounded by white bros , to the endless positive vibes around sex , sexuality , gender , and finding out who you truly are while having a great time with your girlfriends . There are also hilarious performances : Sabrina Wu had me in stitches with their deadpan portrayal of Deadeye and Sherry Cola was an endless boss lady . But ultimately I found Joy Ride to be strangely tedious and trying too hard to be outrageous to effectively incorporate the sincere part of the story , which feels tacked on as an awkward afterthought . 95 minutes .
© LEONINE
JOY RIDE
USA 2023 OPENING AUGUST 24 , 2023
DIRECTED BY : ADELE LIM
WRITING CREDITS : CHERRY CHEVAPRAVATDUMRONG , TERESA
HSIAO , ADELE LIM
PRINCIPAL ACTORS : STEPHANIE HSU , ASHLEY PARK , SHERRY COLA ,
SABRINA WU
CURRENTS 47