Joy Ride (2023)

Joy Ride (2023)

 

7/10

 

Starring

Ashley Park

Sherry Cola

Stephanie Hsu

Sabrina Wu

 

Directed by Adele Lim

 

Coming from a guy, I liked the way this film handled women and sexuality. It did a great job with the character development of the four main ladies and kept finding ways to pull a rabbit out of a hat just when you thought you had guessed how things were going to turn out.

This is a good film, and it deserves more attention, especially for how well it was written and directed by Adele Lim in her directorial debut.

It’s easy to walk into the cinema expecting to see something with B-movie-level acting and writing when the premise is about women going on a trip. That’s what Hollywood usually delivers in these kinds of films, so you can already predict a few things that might happen. This movie has some of those predictable moments too it sticks to the road trip formula, but the way it executes the familiar is where it shines.

There’s always one overly serious character in road trip films, and here, it’s Audrey (an Asian woman adopted by white parents as a child). She needs to visit China for a business trip but doesn’t speak any Chinese. Audrey’s childhood friend, Lolo, who grew up in a Chinese family and speaks the language, comes along to help translate. Audrey also plans to meet her university friend, Kat, an actress living in China. Rounding out the group is Deadeye, Lolo’s cousin, who joins them on the trip.

As expected, things go wrong. The group loses their passports after a mishap, and just when they seem to catch a break, the film takes a strong sexual detour that only adds to their troubles. From there, the group's bad luck was piling up, and their friendship gets pushed to the limit.

In the end, while the overall structure follows the typical road trip formula, I like the spin this movie adds to it. It starts with a business and then turns to a series of unfortunate events, which eventual ends with the group breaking up and reconciling. The movie is full of funny and occasionally surprising moments, and doesn’t stray far from what you’d expect. The actresses did a great job in their roles, bringing the characters to life with performances that were both goofy and engaging. While this film wasn’t a massive box-office hit, it’s definitely a standout in its category. If any movie deserves another go at the road trip formula, this one does it better than most we’ve seen try.