Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 35 minutes, Director – Adele Lim
Asian American Audrey (Ashley Park) is going to China for a work trip, however with her friends alongside her things quickly go off course during a pivotal meeting which extends their stay.
Part of the key of Joy Ride is the fact that the core group aren’t all friends. The four central performances effectively capture the feeling of people who only just know of each other through a mutual friend. The bonds are loose, but they quickly build as it’s clear the character’s have heard, and in some cases briefly met, enough of the more unfamiliar faces in question.
The core link is Audrey, an Asian American lawyer hoping to make partner at her firm. Adopted by a white couple shortly after birth in China, she’s spent almost all of her life in the US. Meanwhile, her best friend Lolo (Sherry Cola) is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, speaks the language and claims to have more of a connection to the culture. Lolo is tagging along with Audrey on a work trip to act as her translator while she tries to secure a deal for her law firm. Nearly 30 she finds herself in a ‘look after your cousin’ situation as loud, K-Pop fan Vanessa (Sabrina Wu) – nicknamed throughout the film as Deadeye – joins them far beyond the flight. While Audrey isn’t initially best pleased with re-meeting Deadeye, it’s far bigger than the rift between Lolo and Audrey’s best friend from college Kat (Stephanie Hsu), the pair have never met and seem to be competing from the second they finally do.
The performances throughout show the growing relationship between all four characters as tentative. Whether because of social anxiety or simply wanting to seem the better friend almost all seem to be putting on some form of thin act, and not just within the group. There are plenty of laughs to be had as the various barriers are broken down and the situation worsens for each figure. After a negotiation goes wrong a meeting with Audrey’s birth mother could save the day, but it’s not going to be easy to find her. While she focuses on work, and her identity constantly playing on her mind, disturbances to the course continue to arise.
Sex and drugs are on the menu in the more explicit sequences of the film, with a good deal to laugh out loud at – some sequences keep the momentum going for quite some time as they show the characters in different locations as part of an increasingly chaotic montage. Where things succeed in regards to this are particularly in the feeling that such gags don’t feel present simply for the sake of being explicit. They’re built up to and work within the narrative, and not entirely used for a shock value either. The narrative as a whole has plenty going on and goes to a number of different places in the short space of 95 minutes. 95 minutes which go by very quickly thanks to the laughs brought about through the interactions and conversations of the group of mutual friends.
There’s an overall enjoyable trip (with a handful of individual trips along the way) here. One which manages to pack plenty of events and locations into its short run-time without feeling too busy. Led by a strong group of leads who create an effective estranged chemistry with each other which pushes the comedy and arguments throughout. There’s a good deal of joy to be found within this particular joyride.
With four lead performances nailing the estranged relationships which bring the central group together Joy Ride brings plenty of laughs within the packed 95 minute run-time.
Just A Little Bit Random 