Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Joy Ride (2023)

Jack and I had some laughs at this raunchy comedy about four Asian-American women on a business trip (funny business) to China and making some life changes. Starring Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu, the enormous cast includes appearances by Annie Mumolo, David Denman, Timothy Simons, Ronny Chieng, pro basketball player Baron Davis, Lori Tan Chinn, and Daniel Dae Kim.

Adele Lim directs from a screenplay co-written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsaio (story credited to all three).

Nathan Matthew David is credited with the score, but the R-rated (for language) soundtrack on Apple Music has fifteen tracks by various artists and five by David. I remember liking the music of many genres. I also remember liking the gorgeous production values––sets and locations––shot by Paul Yee.

Cola, Hsu, and Chieng were last blogged for Shortcomings, Mumolo for Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar, Denman for Puzzle, Simons for Inherent Vice, and David for The Last Word.

I've enjoyed Park's work in nine episodes of Girls5eva, 30 of Emily in Paris (she's a good singer!), seven of Beef, and six of Only Murders in the Building (she sings in that one, too). Wu and Davis make their feature debuts here. Chinn is known for some stand-out scenes in She-Devil (1989), What About Bob? (1991), one of my all-time favorites Living in Oblivion (1995), and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), as well as 27 episodes of Orange Is the New Black and 27 of Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens. Kim has a massive resume on imdb, but will always be best known to me for 119 episodes of Lost.

Lim was last blogged for co-writing Raya and the Last Dragon and this is her feature directing debut. Chevapravatdumrong and Hsaio have some TV writing credits, including the aforementioned Awkwafina show, and this is their first screenplay as well. Yee has shot six other features and a bunch of TV episodes and shorts.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are riding joyfully along with an average of 91%, while its audiences are somewhat less engaged at 82. We rented it on September 21 from iTunes/Apple TV and, because I forgot to start a blog draft that day, didn't remember to write about it until I was reading up on Shortcomings a few days ago.

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