It was pretty good.
It doesn't represent Singapore, Asians or the overall tension all that well.
But it's glamorous and depicts Asians in a different light than from before.
Some representation is better than none, I'll take it.
But as an Asian who's lived more than 5 years each in Singapore, China and USA, there's almost no detail in the movie that really shows the differences or tension or the misunderstandings between different Asians
As a project on a whole, Crazy Rich Asians to me isn't about Asia or Singapore or Asians in Asia. Those are just used as window dressing. It's about an Asian-American fantasy that happens to be set in Singapore because it's kinda exotic to people who have never heard of it, fits the checkboxes needed for such a story to take place, and more importantly - take place largely in English.
That's why there's tons of buzz in the west, and relatively muted response in Asia itself. And you know, I totally get why people in the west are excited. It's a Hollywood movie with an all Asian cast, Asian-American leads directed by an Asian-American, adapted from a novel by an Asian-American. It's a BIG deal for Asian-American representation. But here in Asia we get all Asian casts, directors, books, etc all the time. This is nothing particularly new conceptually, and as far as representing Singapore goes, it's so far out that the best I could say is "well at least it's not Hitman!"
As a Singaporean I don't really care to look to Hollywood for representation of Singapore. It's not really that important because we're doing very well for ourselves in the things that matter, people who actually travel know what we are, and we're super successful. Don't need any validation or accuracy from the west, but if using Singapore as a springboard makes it easier for Hollywood to give Asian-Americans the representation they so badly need, I say rock on.
