Film Review – Joy Ride

Adele Lim makes her directorial debut with “Joy Ride” after enjoying positive reviews as a screenwriter, contributing to “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” These are pictures respected for their sensitive, knowing takes on Asian culture and personality, but that’s not the creative end game for “Joy Ride,” with Lim working to realize a script created by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, with the pair spending many years shaping their comedic instincts on “Family Guy.” Cartoon antics return in the feature, which hopes to revive the freewheeling formula of 2017’s “Girls Trip,” following four characters and their wild experiences in China. It’s a hard R-rated adventure with limited opportunity for genuine wit, finding Lim going all-in on raunchy material, while the writers go the paint-by-numbers route, presenting dismal humor and plasticized heart on par with an early-2000 Farrelly Brothers production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com