Conspicuous Consumption
(originally posted on IMDb 11 January 2019)

In a way, I suppose, "Crazy Rich Asians" is something of a testament to racial inclusivity; it's a major Hollywood movie starring Asians and Asian-Americans that's just as awful as any of the other numerous rom-coms starring Caucasians and people of other races to spew out the same shallow, cookie-cutter formula and nauseating clichés. If we're to look beyond race, the most distinguishing feature of this entry is the excess of the materialism. Yet, some conspicuous consumption is usually built into rom-coms. It's kind of fitting in a way, too, because these type of movies themselves are a complete waste of time and money to see. At the very least, they rely upon romantic dates, parties, engagement rings, weddings and a climactic grand romantic gesture that's all about throwing one's effort and money away on and making a big public display of puerile notions of love.

In this one, there's a montage where the Cinderella type tries on dresses with the help of her gay friends so as to show up the evil witch. There are even some Disney-like overhead views and zooms of some of the more glamorous displays of enormous wealth, such as for the mansions and parties. The lead couple, of course, break up for a time and, not uncommonly, it's because of the family. There's a ridiculous wedding where everyone dresses up in stupid outfits and cry and stare at each other for a long time as music plays. In fact, there are quite a few scenes in this one where nothing of interest happens while music plays. It's like watching a very bad music video at times. There's also a sequence where a bunch of nitwits gossip to each other through their cell phones, with the movie including a bunch of text and Emoji images that fail to be funny. Oh, and, of course, there's the usual cabal of mean girls, in addition to the matriarchal witches, out to thwart Cinderella.

I couldn't care less about the main couple. Of slightly more interest here methinks is the Astrid character and her husband, whose marriage is strained by her conspicuous consumption, which she tries to hide from him. There's another reason given for the problems in their marriage, but that's of no interest other than to draw one's attention away from the movie's celebration of conspicuous consumption. The tell, to use the poker lingo of our economics professor protagonist (Although, really, five-card draw is the game they chose to illustrate math? That that's the poker game requiring the most skill is itself a silly movie trope, but I digress.), of where this movie's ethics lie is in how Astrid's marriage is handled. The other interesting character is the one we never see, the patriarch of the Young family. You know, the guy making all of the money that's being spent by all of these characters that we never see working a day in their lives--aside from a lousy ECON class and a wretched movie production. I know he has another story in the books that this movie is based on, but at least for his role in this movie, it's the part to be most envious of because it's inconspicuous.