The ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Trailer: Our Annotated, Second-by-Second Reaction

We’ve now watched the ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ trailer approximately 12,782 times. How accurately does it capture life in Singapore?

In case you were, like, out of the country or sleeping under a rock yesterday, mama, you may have missed the debut of the Crazy Rich Asians trailer on Ellen (just one of many indications that this movie is going to be awesome)!

I personally cannot wait for the world to get a good long look at Singapore’s amazingness; basically the Singapore Tourism Board can just take a vacation and post this video to their homepage. Everything from Gardens by the Bay, to the Merlion, to Chinatown and CHIJMES makes an appearance, and they seem to have perfectly captured our lush tropical paradise. Throw in the amazingly star-studded cast (sorry, just can’t stop using the word amazing here!), and Black Panther might just have a rival for box office supremacy in 2018.

I have now watched the trailer approximately 12,782 times. Here are my thoughts. Let us know yours on our Facebook page! 

:24 Pacific Asean Airlines?! Seriously SQ? You’re a national treasure and the greatest airline in the world, your new suites are da bomb, and this is your chance to show yourself off to global audiences. Kind of weak sauce that a movie all about Singapore would have to use a fake airline…

:31 Yes, that’a a massive house that would prolly cost many tens of millions of dollars (do we think it’s actually in Singapore?), and yet…much smaller than what I pictured the Young family manse to look like when reading the book. Hopefully that’s “just” Colin Khoo’s house on Sentosa.

:32 Ok that shot of various sports cars on a private jet runway is totally legit. That could just as easily be the Tanglin Mall parking garage at 2pm on a Thursday.

:33 Shirtless shot #1.

:35 SO. MUCH. GOLD in Peik Lin/Awkwafina’s nouveau riche house. Nailed it.

:38 Ken Jeong as Peik Lin’s rich busybody daddy (somehow even more gold) should also make the character even funnier than he was in the book, although mildly disappointing to hear him not even attempt to do a Singaporean accent (“Hells yeah”?!).

:44 Shirtless shot #2.

:46 AHA! This must be the Young family mansion hidden in the jungle amidst the Botanic Gardens. Much more like it.

:54 Even in a kitchen amongst rusty pots and pans Michelle Yeoh is an imperious (in the best possible way) queen and I am so here for it.

:57 That subtly gold and rainbow dress is everything. Where can we find it, Ms. Ying and Ms. Yang? WHERE?! Also, LOVE the Peranakan-style wallpaper in the background. Well done on the attention to detail, movie set design people!

1:00 Michelle Yeoh absolutely rocking a delicately beaded take on a kebaya. Because of course she is. Yay for showing off local style.

1:04 Yup, pretty much your standard Sunday session at Tanjong Beach Club.

1:10 What a gorgeous shot with all the old folks playing mahjong. Where do we think this is?

1:20 Woohoo, Chinatown! Kicking it on Bukit Pasoh. Do we think they had oysters at Humpback?

1:25 Shirtless shot #3.

1:27 Shirtless shot #4.

1:30 Emotional blah blah

1:46 Looking good, Gardens by the Bay! Totally giving me ideas for my baby’s first birthday party.

1:50 Loooove Nico Santos’s bold mix of patterns and texture as bitchy and observant cousin Oliver T’sien (who I always assumed was kind of author Kevin Kwan’s alter ego). And good on him for pulling off a local-ish accent!

1:56 Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of Newton Hawker Centre. SO unrealistic. C’mon now! Food deserves MUCH more of a starring role in any movie about Singapore!

1:57 Choreographed group dance scene. Sure.

1:59 Shirtless shot #5.

2:11 Emotional blah blah

2:17 Peik Lin is driving on the correct side of the car (with an American movie I just couldn’t be sure they’d get this one right!).

2:24 Is it August yet?!?!?!?!

Final Thoughts: I mean, OMG amazing, obviously. Personally I’d swap the ratio of shirtlessness to local hawker food, but that’s just me (and my love handles). My main critique (and I’m hardly the first to mention this) is the lack of any Indian and Malay faces. Singapore has a female Malay President for goodness sake! And that is AWESOME, and the world should know about how wonderfully diverse and multi-cultural this place really is. Of course, I understand the book is about a very narrow slice of a predominantly Chinese social set, and it’s fantastic (/ridiculous) that it’s the first majority Asian cast on a major Hollywood film in over two decades, but hopefully when the full movie comes out we’ll get to see just a bit more of what makes Singapore so special. Until then, we here at Sassy Mama HQ will be practicing our choreographed dance routine to celebrate the premiere on August 17.

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