JOY RIDE (2023)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Adele Lim
Cast: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, Ronny Chieng, Meredith Hagner, David Denman, Annie Mumolo, Timothy Simons, Daniel Dae Kim, Desmond Chiam, Baron Davis
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes and Nudity)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 6 July 2023

Synopsis: From the co-writer of Crazy Rich Asians and the producers of Neighbors! This film will bring you a roller coaster of emotions, especially laughter! The hilarious and unapologetically explicit story of identity and self-discovery centres on four unlikely friends who embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure. When Audrey’s (Ashley Park) business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the aid of Lolo (Sherry Cola), her irreverent, childhood best friend who also happens to be a hot mess; Kat (Stephanie Hsu), her college friend turned Chinese soap star; and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s eccentric cousin. Their no-holds-barred, epic experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging, and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.

Movie Review:

Joy Ride for sure is no Joy Luck Club even though they both have one thing in common- a cast comprising of almost entirely Asians. Produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and directed by Adele Lim, writer of Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon, Joy Ride is a raunchy comedy full of heart, friendship and cultural identities.

Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) have been best friends since childhood. While Audrey is a high achiever aiming to be a partner in a law firm, Lolo is a self-proclaimed artist working on her penis related sculptures. One day, Audrey finds herself being assign to China on a working trip and she has no choice but to get Lolo along to be her translator. Tagging along is deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s K-pop loving cousin. And later on, the trio also met up with Audrey’s college roommate, Kat (Stephanie Hsu), an up-and-coming movie star.

Things start to go downhill when Audrey’s client, Chao (Ronnie Chieng) insists on meeting Audrey’s birth mother (she’s adopted by an American family by the way) before signing on the contract and while on the way there, the girls encountered a drug mule along a train and lost their way in the countryside.

Joy Ride works like a female version of a typical frat-boy comedy with generous doses of sexual situations, crude gags and vulgarity thrown in. Not all the jokes land perfectly though especially a rowdy sex crusade with various players of a basketball team in a hotel which is more awkward than genuinely rib-tickling. For the record, there’s an ongoing gag about Kat’s tattoo which serves as the movie’s highlight when it is revealed. There’s even a cheeky, hilarious scene where the quartet has to imitate a K-op band in order to board a plane.

Sex jokes aside, Joy Ride fares better when it comes to the emotional aspect of things. Since Audrey is adopted by a white American family, she basically knows nothing about her own heritage and the last part of the story has her connecting to her actual roots with the help of her friends. True friendship really stands the test of time and maybe temper. There’s that feeling of warmth and deep bonding to the quartet’s rowdiness and squabbling by the end.

Lim’s directorial debut genuinely is a road trip worth taking. The cast is a godsend with Park, Cola and Hsu as the main standouts. Wu’s non-binary character doesn’t get much of a notice but that’s no fault of the performer. Joy Ride contains no hidden agenda nor is it a female representation kind of movie. Strictly speaking, if you love a laugh-out-loud time with your buddies, get on this ride.

Movie Rating:

(Ride along this energetic, raunchy journey with four wild young women)

Review by Linus Tee