Joy Ride review: A hilariously raunchy road trip through China
Everything Everywhere's Stephanie Hsu leads a daring comedic ensemble that brings the laughs while going deep on the messiness of identity
Comedies with strong studio backing are something of a rarity in theaters these days, which makes Joy Ride one of the funniest theatrical offerings in recent memory, almost by default. This is not to damn debut director Adele Lim and screenwriters Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao with faint praise; it’s merely an observation that another raunchy ensemble comedy in the vein of Bridesmaids and Girls Trip is more than welcome in a market starving for them, and Joy Ride deserves to be spoken of and remembered in the same breath as its forebears. It’s a comedy that stands on its own merits while also adding a surprising amount of pathos to its story of an American woman discovering her Chinese roots. But, ya know, with gags about shoving eight balloons of cocaine up one’s ass.
The film opens with a white family asking a Chinese immigrant family whether their respective daughters would like to play with each other, revealing that the daughter of the white family was adopted from China. This kicks off a lifelong friendship between the overachieving Audrey (Ashley Park) and the sexually adventurous loudmouth Lolo (Sherry Cola). When the now-adult Audrey needs to close a deal with her law firm’s new Chinese client, she enlists Lolo as her translator, prompting Lolo to push Audrey to track down her birth mother while they’re in China. With Lolo’s socially awkward cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) in tow and Audrey’s former college roommate Kat (Stephanie Hsu) joining them, a series of complications and misunderstandings put the four on an unexpected road trip across Asia.
To call Joy Ride funny would be a massive understatement, as the group tries to keep up with heavy-drinking Chinese businessmen, allows unrestrained libidos to destroy a whole basketball team, and impersonates K-pop stars to evade customs. These scenes would be great on their own, but even minor gag lines are paid off in tremendously absurd ways, making the comedy extremely rewarding in its intricacy on top of its shock value.