Apologies to the new royal baby, but Monday morning belongs to the “Prince William of Asia.” The long-awaited trailer for Crazy Rich Asians dropped on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and it looks like the blingy, over-the-top summer rom-com we are all looking forward to.
Based on the popular 2013 book by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu (Constance Wu, who could be one of the summer’s breakout stars) as she travels to Singapore for a wedding, at which she will meet her new boyfriend’s family. When she finds out that they’re one of the wealthiest families in the world, she goes head to head with the matriarch (Michelle Yeoh) to prove that she’s good enough for her son (Henry Golding).
“She thinks you’re some kind of unrefined banana—yellow on the outside, white on the inside,” quips Goh Peik Lin, played by the summer’s other breakout star, Awkwafina. The drama ramps up from there, as the trailer cuts from glitzy parties to fancy cars and Rachel’s various social missteps. (To be fair, who washes their fingers in warm bowls of water anymore? Have they heard of hand sanitizer?)
Crazy Rich Asians will be the first non-period-piece Hollywood movie with an Asian-majority cast in 25 years—a sobering fact, but one that nevertheless shows that this film is a step in the right direction. It looks like there will be two big-budget weddings to look forward to this summer—and sorry, Meghan, but only one features a future Hollywood starlette.
Catch Crazy Rich Asians in theaters August 17.
