The ‘Joy Ride’ stars called their latest film “liberating” and “the first of its kind” at the red carpet screening in San Francisco on Thursday.
Ashley Park, who plays one of the film’s main characters, was in attendance and told SFGATE that it was her third time seeing the film in front of an audience. She said each time the crowd left energetically.
“We love everything in this genre, and at least what I’ve personally seen is that everyone leaves the theater happy, horny, seen or heard and just full of life,” she said.
The film, which officially hits theaters July 7, is a comedy about four Asian-American girlfriends, played by Park, Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu, who travel across different parts of Asia to meet one of their birth mothers to find. The comedy is like a cross between ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ with hilarious moments including lots of cocaine, a very ‘interesting’ sex scene with a messy threesome montage and an appearance by a fake K-pop group.
Directed by Adele Lim, “Joy Ride” had a nearly full hall with 1,400 spectators screaming and bursting with laughter at almost every moment of the San Franciscremiere.
“[‘Joy Ride’] “Everyone is in a good mood and can relate to one, if not all, of the characters and situations – and we were just all Asian,” Park said before the premiere.
According to its website, the studio comedy premiered in San Francisco during CAAMFest, the world’s largest festival for Asian-American films. The film festival takes place from May 11th to 21st in San Francisco and Oakland.
Wu, a comedian and actor who notably wrote for the Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha, declared her appreciation for San Francisco on the red carpet at the historic Castro Theater.
“San Francisco is so beautiful right now, and living in Michigan with my gay friends, we always thought, ‘One day we’re all going to escape to California. We’re going to move to the gay west coast,” they said. “I guess it’s exactly what I imagined being here on this street with a rainbow flag flying every ten feet.”
Thuy Tran, festival and exhibition director of CAAMFest, said in a recorded video shown at the premiere that the story of “Joy Ride” propels the industry and the Asian American community forward with its “taboo” but groundbreaking topics.
“‘Joy Ride’ is so emphatic about Asian-American joy,” Tran said. “It’s so uncompromising about our desires, period.”
In the film, the four characters, most notably Park’s character Audrey, struggle with their sense of self and personal identity. Audrey, who works in a law firm, ignores the seemingly “wild” aspects of life that make her happy and struggles with her cultural identity as an Asian American. The film does a great job of depicting the characters’ breakthroughs in their self-discovery while also capturing their pure and diverse friendship, without missing out on hilarious moments that will make you laugh.
During a question-and-answer session after the premiere, the cast said they were grateful for the film’s writers’ ability to assemble such a diverse cast with distinctly different personalities and identities. The cast also mentioned that much like their on-screen characters, they felt that their identities as Asian Americans limited their opportunities, and “Joy Ride” was a major breakthrough in their professional careers.
“I actually think sometimes that I had such low expectations of myself because I didn’t see a way forward,” said Hsu, who plays Kat, during the Q&A session. Hsu recently played several supporting roles in blockbusters like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Marvel’s Shang-Chi.
Park, who also played Mindy Chen in Emily in Paris, said she felt the similar experiences of all the leading actors in the film industry created a bond between the four.
“If you’ve only had a handful of supporting role opportunities, you’ve got a really supporting cast,” she said during the Q&A session.
“Joy Ride” was a fantastic portrayal of a life without shame, and if the reception at the Castro was any indication, it will be a revolutionary film for the talented cohort of actors and an important chapter in the next wave of Asian-American cinema.
