Raunchy comedy Joy Ride puts Asian women front and centre – and behind the camera

AUSTIN, Texas – The cast and creators of the raunchy new movie Joy Ride compare it with adult-rated comedies such as Bridesmaids (2011) and The Hangover (2009), but with Asian women taking the lead on both sides of the camera.

Opening in Singapore cinemas on Thursday, the film – which is rated R21 for sexual scenes and nudity – sees childhood pals Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) take a trip through China to find Audrey’s birth mother, accompanied by their friends Kat (Stephanie Hsu) and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu).

But their journey of self-discovery and debauchery soon goes sideways.

The movie is directed by Malaysian-American film-maker Adele Lim – co-writer of the hit romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians (2018) – and co-written by Asian American writers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, who worked on the animated sitcom Family Guy (1999 to present).

Speaking at the South By Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas earlier in 2023, Lim – who made headlines in 2019 when she quit the Crazy Rich Asians sequel because she would have been paid less than co-writer Peter Chiarelli – says Joy Ride is a first for female Asian representation in Hollywood

“We haven’t really put Asian women front and centre the way we do in this movie,” says the 43-year-old director.

Park, the 32-year-old Korean-American star of Netflix comedy series Emily In Paris (2020 to present), agrees.

“I think it is the first of its kind. These are my favourite kinds of movies – Bridesmaids, The Hangover, you know, all these (R-rated) comedies that you can watch over and over again – and I never even thought it was accessible for me to be a part of one.”

Hsu – the Taiwanese-American actress who earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role in the Oscar-winning science-fiction comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) – notes that all too often in Hollywood, Asian characters have been “the butt of the joke” in comedies.

“Now, we can laugh at ourselves and we are laughing at ourselves, and we’re completely imperfect, messy, turning every stereotype on its head and being unapologetically wild,” says the 32-year-old.

Cola, a Chinese-American comedian and actress, says: “This film is so unapologetic, funny, in your face, jaw-dropping and groundbreaking – and we happen to be Asian.”

The 33-year-old, who appeared in the drama Good Trouble (2019 to present), adds: “That’s what we want to do – we want to normalise this kind of storytelling and the cultural specifics are just the plus.”

Lim, making her directorial debut with this movie, says she got plenty of support from friends such as Chinese-American director Jon M. Chu, who helmed Crazy Rich Asians and whom she says “was there for me”.

Also supporting the Joy Ride was producer Seth Rogen, whose production company spearheaded the project.

The 41-year-old Canadian-American actor, who starred in and co-directed comedies such as This Is the End (2013) and The Interview (2014), says he wanted to be involved because “it was just so funny, so different and original”.

“Then as the cast started to come together, I was, like, this is going to be something special, and I went to the first test screening and people just really loved it.”

But the cast and crew did all the hard work, he adds. “Honestly, we were just here to support them and to set them up to do their thing.”

Lim says casting a movie such as this, with all Asian leads, was a unique challenge because in the Asian-American talent pool in Hollywood, “we don’t have those feature A-lister names that you know about”.

But she praised the four lead actresses and said they each poured so much of themselves into their characters.

“Each one of them really had so much of their own personal experience and lives really shape the characters as we were writing. Their hearts and souls and blood (are) on the screen.”

Asked what sort of film she would like to see made to raise the profile of Asian women in Hollywood, Lim refers to Keanu Reeves’ hit action film franchise, which started in 2014 and ended in 2023.

“I want to see an Asian girl be John Wick,” she says.

• Joy Ride opens in cinemas on Thursday.