I Just Watched The Asian Hangover (Joy Ride REVIEW)

Is this new Asian female hangover changing the game for Asians and could it actually open the doors for an Asian bro hangover movie? David, I just watched it. So let me give you my review. Yeah, we're breaking down Joyride. It's got really good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes right now. I mean, this is one of the only all Asian-American cast movies that got a national theater release for 2023. We know some of the people in it. Shout out to them. And yeah, we break down everything silly to serious, Andrew. And we got a lot of entertainment talk here on the Hot Pot Boys, so let's get into it. All right, everybody. We're going to get into the comments section. I will give you my review on, you know, portrayal for Asian men. Do I think the story is good? Blah, blah, blah. Should you watch it? Anyways, please hit that like button. Check out other episodes of the Hot Pot Boys. You know what I noticed, Andrew? This girls trip type genre movie. Every community kind of had one, right? Because Girls Trip was like Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith. Bridesmaid was, I guess, more of the white version. Kristen Wiig. This is more like the Asian version. No, yeah. Sounds like Asian girl hangover. Or if you want to say Girls Trip. Where's the Latino one? There might be one, though. I think people would look forward to that one, too, as well. But yeah, so we're going to get into it. First of all, fun fact. David, the original title for this movie was Joy F Club. You mean like Joy Luck Club, but with an F instead of luck? Joy Fudge Club. It was that's pretty funny. But of course, they're not going to release that, right? Yeah, a little cringe, a little cringe. But yeah, it kind of shows you the irreverence that they were approaching this. They were going for it. And I respect it, but I'm glad that's not the name of the movie. All right. So let me just go through my review real quick. Was it entertaining and fresh? Yes. Did I laugh at 100 percent of the movie? I would say 75 percent of the movie. There was a couple of things that I wasn't as into. But overall, the movie is ridiculous and hilarious. Right. It is super well written. Seth Rogen does help produce it. Adele Lim writes it. So obviously you get your mainstream comedy validation. Well, you got you got multimillionaires who got their all their money off comedy and writing. Seth Rogen is responsible for some of the best comedy. You said that there's some Asian references in there like K-Pop, Boba and things like that, things that you would not think would make it into an Asian American movie. It is very much a very Asian movie, as ridiculous as it is. It's very Asian, very raunchy, too. But portrayal of Asian men, I think as Asian dudes, David, we can all agree. We are wondering this question because it's a female centric movie. Great. Good. How are the Asian guys in it? Because I think guys are probably kind of skeptical. They're right. You know, like, you know what I mean. A lot of the Internet guys on the forums are going to be like, yeah, great. These girls made into Hollywood. They make Asian dudes look whack. And like, it's just going to continue the narrative for 100 years. Honestly, no, the portrayal is good. I would say it's good now. It's female centric, of course. So I think females and Asian females particularly will gravitate towards this movie and feel it the most. Right. But no, so you're saying that just like a Latina hangover or like Girls' Night, it didn't approach it any different because like in Girls' Night, they get with a like a lot of hot black guys in that, too. It's all. Listen, Justin, every movie dynamic where the nerdy guy ends up with a super hot chick, that's probably unrealistic. There's a lot of hot guys in this movie, too, but also smart guys and funny guys. So you're saying nerdier looking girls getting with super hot Chad dudes? Yes. But so does it tackle issues of Asian-American identity that are interesting to even me? Someone who thinks about Asian-American identity, right? You're saying topics that probably are not addressed oftentimes in movies that make it all the way through the bureaucratic process and ROI projections of the theater world. Yeah, I got to give them credit. It does for the most part. Yes. Because the main character is about she's she's an adopted Chinese girl. So, of course, she deals with not being Asian enough. And then there's also some jokes about not dating Asian guys. But that's like addressed at least. You know what I mean? And I think they did a funny job in the trailer of like having the liberal white parents that are like, hey, you want to teach my daughter some culture? Like because I've seen that. And you know what? Like a good comedy, David, it didn't get preachy, but it brought stuff up. And that's what I do support, because at the end of the day, listen, preachiness, it does get in the way. It can feel you're saying there was smooth with it. The way they brought it up was smooth. It was well written. Do I think non-Asians will like it? This is a big question. That's an ROI question. That's a return on investment algorithm equation question. Let me ask you guys this. Did you watch Crazy Rich Asians? A lot of non-Asians did. I think that this is the comedy for them. If you're open minded and you can get past the fact that everybody's Asian in this and there is a lot of Asian culture in it, let's be real. It is. And even though a lot of people think that Asian culture might be a little bit more foreign than like bridesmaids culture or like I guess like black American culture, right? They look at Asian culture oftentimes is more foreign. I will still say that I think if you're open minded and you eat pho or you've had soup dumplings before, you will very much watch. I think that this is key where Stephanie Su from everything, everywhere, all at once comes into play, because there is a world of, I don't know, I guess you say liberalish white media mavens or moguls like hipsters. They like they're following her. Yeah. Because they identify with her. Yeah. Well, you know, I well, you know, I love Szechuan hot pot. So I'm going to go watch Joyride. Oh, no. Andrew, they did not. They not on Szechuan, they on vegan Szechuan from from Spicy Moon in 2023. No, I definitely think there's a market for it. And I think it is just one of the most raunchiest comedies that's going to come out this year, period, for Hollywood. Yeah. Do I think, David? Big question. Will this pave the way? Do I think it will pave the way for an Asian bro comedy? Right. This selfish question. No, of course. Selfish question. Bros in the in shout out to Asian women. They got the bro comedy before us, which is fine. Do I think it paves the way for Asian guys? Because, you know, Asian guys always feel like we're kind of like shut to the side or we're the last. Yeah, I would say a lot of Asian guys feel like that theoretically. And obviously they didn't do that in this movie. Right. They feel like the Asian women that get approved by Hollywood is just going to get in there and have all the fun. And if they end up playing out Asian dudes in that process, they're kind of like, we're in. Yeah. No, that's the perception. I'm not saying that that's the reality. Clearly, they did a good job of showing that that's not the reality. That's the perception. Yeah. I think that's how it was. That whole attitude of like Asian dudes, basically, we could bet on getting left behind or getting left in the dust. One hundred percent. That was more ten years ago. It has progressively gotten better. And I think this movie is a symbol of it. To be honest, it's great. So no, no, I do think it sets it up for an Asian guy, bro movie. But I don't think that hangover movie for Asian guys, for example, is going to come next year. But to be fair, we do got some Asian bro hangover movies in Asia. Andrew, one of the biggest ones, even you know, you guys can't believe this because not everybody watches stuff out of mainland China. Lost in Thailand. Yeah. Lost in Thailand. Wow. Hilarious movie. But I'll say this, guys. This type of raunchy movie will not get made in Asia because Asia would not produce such a raunchy movie. It's definitely the drug smuggling jokes. There's no way they're making this is American raunchy. This is very much. But to be honest, Andrew, that's why a lot of those movies in like East Asia, they center in Thailand, which is sort of like their view of the the place where some wild stuff right. Thailand would be considered the raunchiest mainstream Asian country. Anyways, so we're just going to go through the few comments here that we found of people who had seen it before. Somebody said, I love in the trailer how the little girl punched the bully in the beginning, who calls him ching chongs on the playground. That's funny. That's a great dude. That's a great scene to open up with on the trailer. Honestly. Yeah, I knew what they were doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody said this looks hilarious. Picking up major girls trips vibes. Plus, we'll see. I will see anything of Stephanie Su's at this point. Yeah, she's a great actress. I think that she also is in a lot of, I guess, hipster validated pieces. So if you like Stephanie Su, you're going to look out for her projects. Saw it last night was fun. If you like Harold and Kumar, you will like this. It was a little bit Harold and Kumar. Props to Seth Rogen on a good track record of productions. Him and Jordan Peele really pulled the play, the long game and cemented their names. It's true. These guys are kind of known for like pretty much never really missing. Right. Yeah. And I think that for a long time, right. People probably could criticize a lot of Seth Rogen movies for being very white male centric. Oh, there's only white guys as the main characters, mostly. But yeah, I mean, I would say he helped produce this one. I don't know what he did, but obviously him being there along the way, he couldn't put his name on something that he thought had a chance of not being funny. Yeah, that's true. And Seth Rogen, man, like whether he's your type of like Canadian stoner comedy or not, he's funny. Yeah, Seth Rogen is categorically funny. Hands down. He got that laugh. Somebody said, watched it with early access. Movie was hilarious, but I don't see anybody resonating with it. Who's not Asian-American themselves? Andrew, this goes brings you back. What's your word? I think I think that's a fair feeling, but I think it's going to do better than you think. Also, someone commented below. Oh, I guess that's just liberating. You know, they didn't make hangover for women or girls trip to appeal to really anybody beyond like black women at first. But both those movies got popular because they're just good. Right. So I mean, man, you know, you always hear this, Andrew. You know, like there's you meet a lot of Asian-American entertainers. They're like, dude, quit talking about being Asian. It just matters if it's good. But it's it's everything like the thing that it's Asian. It affects impacts people's ability to relate to it. The relatability of a piece oftentimes impacts people's rating of it, whether it was good or not. So actually, yes and no. Like when people say that, I'm like, yes, but that's like saying it doesn't matter how good at shooting you are in basketball if you're just good at basketball. But being shooting is part of being good. I will say this for comedy, because it's more culturally contextual. Like I think it is. It does have to feel like American comedy for it to be popular. Right. Because people in America and we don't necessarily even like British comedies and certainly not French comedies, even though there's a select international people that can appreciate taxi or something like that. Something like Parasite, because it's not a comedy and it's a thriller. I think thrillers and dramas are a little bit more like universal. But comedy has to be contextual. Right. You're saying John Wick, for example. There's no way it doesn't translate to it. Couldn't understand. You don't even need to understand a word of English to enjoy John Wick. Anyways, someone said, yeah, some reviewers, one reviewer said, listen, whether ever you thought it was checking boxes for diversity or representation. It is a comedy first. It does have that ridiculousness. It does take it there. So they gave it like a two point five out of four, which is a pretty good, pretty good score. Someone says Joyride doesn't rewrite the comedy or road trip game, but it delivers what it needs to and it's emotional and culturally contextual. And it feels authentic. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. Listen, if it's going to be the first girl's trip, bro's trip, whatever call you want to call the movie in a community for ethnicity that is gaining obviously a lot more traction, which is Asian American representation. They're not going to go take it like too crazy, crazy, right? Yeah. David, just to wrap it up. Do you have any last thoughts? I would say that. Yeah, I mean, go watch the movie. Honestly, I think it's one of the funniest movies with a bunch of Asian faces in it. If you enjoyed even Crazy Rich Asians at all, you're going to like this movie. If you like everything, everywhere, all at once, you are probably also going to enjoy this. Just from what I saw from the trailer, I would say that that scene where they're smuggling drugs on the train, on the bullet train in China is hilarious, Andrew, because me and you, we've ridden the bullet train in Beijing. Yeah, Beijing to Shanghai. We took that train. Yeah. And there is a lot of references. Obviously, it's heavily Chinese, a culture base because it takes place in China. But there is Korean culture as well. And there's touching on other cultures. But yes, a lot of the cast is good at speaking Mandarin, right? Yeah. No, a lot of them are, I believe. I don't want to say native, but maybe near native speakers. They're just very they're fluent Chinese speakers, guys. So, yeah, I think there's a lot of cultural elements, a lot of cultural representation and references. There's obviously a couple parts of the movie that I thought dragged and that I wasn't as much into, but 70 to 80 percent of the movie. It's good to go watch it. Take your date on it. Like if you if she's a female, particularly, I think they will extra like it. Yeah. Let us know what you think in the comments section below and also recommend a movie idea that you think could work as the next, I guess, step forward for Asian-American representation. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Go check it out. Joyride. I think it's out nationally in theater soon, right? July 7th. Twelve hundred theaters. That's a lot of theaters. Yeah.