時報影評：瘋狂亞洲富人的婚姻大事

As of the moment as an Instagram feed, “Crazy Rich Asians” revisits Jane Austen’s timeless universal truth about a man in possession of a fortune being in want of a wife. The man in question is Nick Young (Henry Golding), the exquisitely eligible scion of a Singapore real estate family. The scale of his fortune is suggested by the first scene, in which his mother, insulted by the manager of a fancy London hotel, buys it out from under him.

通過仿若一條Instagram時間線般現(xiàn)代的方式，《瘋狂的亞洲富人》重溫了簡·奧斯汀(Jane Austen)就“有意娶妻的多金男”這一主題給出的永恒普世真理。這一次涉及的男人是尼克·楊(Nick Young，亨利·戈爾丁[Henry Golding]飾)，某新加坡地產(chǎn)家族的優(yōu)秀后裔。影片開場就表明了他的財富規(guī)模——他的母親在倫敦一家時髦酒店受到經(jīng)理侮辱，于是干脆當著他的面把酒店買了下來。

There’s no doubt in Nick’s mind about whom he wants to marry: Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an economics professor at N.Y.U. originally from Queens. She and Nick, who have been together for a year, are clearly a perfect match. At least in Manhattan. But when they travel back to Singapore for a wedding, Rachel finds herself subjected to the disapproving scrutiny of the older generation and vicious sniping from potential rivals.

尼克很清楚自己想和誰結(jié)婚：瑞切爾·朱(Rachel Chu，吳恬敏飾)，她是紐約大學經(jīng)濟學教授，在皇后區(qū)長大。她和尼克已經(jīng)相戀一年，顯然非常般配，至少在曼哈頓是如此。但當他們回到新加坡出席一場婚禮時，瑞切爾發(fā)現(xiàn)自己受到老一代人反感的審視，以及潛在競爭對手的惡毒狙擊。

Every romantic comedy depends on obstacles to the central couple’s ultimate happiness. “Crazy Rich Asians,” a busy, fizzy movie winnowed from Kevin Kwan’s sprawling, dishy novel, sets up a series of clashes — between tradition and individualism, between the heart’s desire and familial duty, between insane wealth and prudent upward mobility — that are resolved with more laughter than tears. There are squalls of intrigue and a melodramatic cloudburst or two, but nothing that threatens to spoil the festivities.

所有浪漫喜劇要依賴核心伴侶走向最終幸福之路上的障礙。由凱文·關(Kevin Kwan)宏大而迷人的小說改編的《瘋狂的亞洲富人》，是一部充滿活力的熱鬧影片，它在傳統(tǒng)和個人主義之間、在內(nèi)心愿望和家庭責任之間、在瘋狂的財富和精明的向上流動之間設置一系列沖突，它們更多是在笑聲中得到解決，而不是在淚水里。片中有一連串陰謀和一兩個夸張的大爆發(fā)，但沒有什么能夠破壞歡快的氣氛。

The venue is fabulous — if there is any part of Singapore that is less than dazzlingly picturesque, we don’t see it here — the music is great, and the food includes homemade dumplings, street-stall delicacies and lavish banquet dishes. But the key to this party is surely the guest list. It has been noted that this is the first Hollywood movie in a long time with a mostly Asian and Asian-American cast, and if anything this observation understates the diversity of the performers onscreen, in terms of both their origins and their pop-cultural affiliations. They include Michelle Yeoh, one of the great international movie stars of the past quarter-century; Ken Jeong, a staple of naughty American comedy for almost as long; and Awkwafina, a hip-hop artist, actress and web celebrity of more recent vintage.

影片場景炫麗——就算新加坡有什么地方不美，我們在這部片子里也看不到——音樂很棒，食物包括家里的包點、街頭的小吃和豪華的宴會菜肴。但這個派對的關鍵當然是客人名單。有人指出，這是長期以來第一部主要由亞洲和亞裔美國演員參演的好萊塢電影，而這個觀點還是低估了演員陣容的多元化，無論是他們的血統(tǒng)還是流行文化背景。他們當中包括過去25年來最優(yōu)秀的國際影星之一楊紫瓊;滑稽美國喜劇的重要人物鄭肯(他的演藝生涯并不比楊紫瓊短多少);還有近年來的嘻哈藝人、演員、網(wǎng)紅奧卡菲娜(Awkwafina)。

[Why did it take so long to see a cast like this?] 這只是一個小小的樣本。凱文·關的書自2013年出版之后暢銷不衰，已經(jīng)有了兩部續(xù)作，原書有500多頁，包括腳注、家譜和足以組成一本電話簿的人物列表。它的題外話和支線情節(jié)可以輕松改編成一兩季的電視劇，而這部由朱浩偉執(zhí)導的電影可能會讓人感覺有些匆忙和局限。有的地方戲太多，有的地方則不夠。

That’s only a small sampling. Mr. Kwan’s book, a best-seller that has spawned two sequels since it was published in 2013, runs to more than 500 pages and includes footnotes, genealogical charts and a telephone directory’s worth of names. Its digressions and tangents would easily fill up a television season or two, and the movie, directed by Jon M. Chu, can feel a bit rushed and cramped. There’s too much and also not enough.

盡管如此，影片還是會讓你樂在其中，只是對可憐的瑞切爾來說就不是那么回事了。在和即將結(jié)婚的一對情侶——尼克的發(fā)小科林(Colin，克里斯·彭[Chris Pang]飾)和未婚妻阿拉明塔(Araminta，水野索諾亞[Sonoya Mizuno]飾)——做了一次愉快的短途旅行之后，家族紛爭和一些雞毛蒜皮的蠢行開始愈演愈烈。瑞切爾遇到了尼克的前女友阿曼達(Amanda，陸思敬飾)，她不是表面看上去的盟友。尼克迷人的堂妹阿斯特麗德(Astrid，嘉瑪·陳[Gemma Chan]飾)要好相處一些，她的婚姻問題是影片中最完整的支線情節(jié)。她的丈夫邁克爾(Michael，方展發(fā)飾)和瑞切爾一樣，是個局外人;妻子的金錢和地位帶給他不安全感，使得他們的婚姻有可能成為一個警世故事。

Still, it’s hard not to have fun, though not always for poor Rachel. After a pleasant excursion with the soon-to-be newlyweds, Nick’s boyhood friend Colin (Chris Pang) and his fiancée, Araminta (Sonoya Mizuno), the family drama and the peripheral silliness kick into high gear. Rachel meets an ex-girlfriend of Nick’s, Amanda (Jing Lusi), who is less of an ally than she seems. More simpatico is Astrid (Gemma Chan), Nick’s ultraglamorous cousin, whose marital troubles provide the most developed secondary plot. Her husband, Michael (Pierre Png), is, like Rachel, an outsider; his insecurity about his wife’s money and status turns their marriage into a potential cautionary tale.

每當尼克的母親埃莉諾(Eleanor，楊紫瓊飾)的視線落到瑞切爾的方向，就會有更嚴重的麻煩。(尼克的父親正在出差。)她的判斷似乎是嚴厲而不公平的，但她也擁有無可否認的莊嚴，對家庭、權(quán)力和自己身份的認真，顯得既高尚又殘忍。《瘋狂的亞洲富人》無疑是站在自由選擇和真愛的一邊，但對其他價值觀的分量和持久性也表達了些許肯定。

A more serious intimation of trouble arrives every time Nick’s mother, Eleanor (Ms. Yeoh), looks in Rachel’s direction. (His father is away on a business trip.) Her judgment seems severe and unfair, but she also possesses an undeniable grandeur, a seriousness about family, power and her own identity that is noble as well as cruel. While there is never any real doubt that “Crazy Rich Asians” will come down on the side of free choice and true love, it does pay lip service the gravity and durability of other values.

總的來說，影片是希望給人帶去一段歡樂時光。它毫不掩飾地贊美奢華與金錢，伴隨著隱約的階級沖突，但更多是關于對財富的渴望而不是嫉妒或憤怒，而且發(fā)生在一個奇跡般地擺脫了歷史和政治的亞洲。瑞切爾瘋瘋癲癲的朋友吳培林(Peik Lin Goh，音，奧卡菲娜飾)以及她瘋瘋癲癲的父母(鄭肯和許靜雯飾)提供了令人放松的喜劇色彩，他們的暴發(fā)戶氣息與楊家的貴族傲慢形成鮮明對比。而在那個家族中，不是所有人都像埃莉諾那樣有著帝王般的高貴，或者像她的兒子那樣親切。家族中有一群風趣的阿姨和一個機智的同性戀表兄(尼可·桑托斯[Nico Santos]飾)，后者由于是個頗為煩人的俗套形象，相對沒那么有意思。

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time. It is an unabashed celebration of luxury and money, with hints of class conflict that have more to do with aspiration than envy or anger, set in an Asia miraculously free of history or politics. Comic relief is provided by Peik Lin Goh (Awkwafina), Rachel’s nutty friend, and her nutty parents (Mr. Jeong and Koh Chieng Mun), whose nouveau riche tackiness stands in contrast to the aristocratic hauteur of the Young family. Not everyone in that clan is as regal as Eleanor or as blandly agreeable as her son. There are a gaggle of funny aunties and a witty gay cousin (Nico Santos), who is no less amusing for being a rather tiresome stereotype.

你也可以將這個人物視為一種自覺的復古——是這部電影狡猾而迷人的老派氣息的一部分。在不曝露任何明顯的懷舊情緒的情況下，《瘋狂的亞洲富人》向過去、向東方表達了好感，以一種讓人聯(lián)想起經(jīng)典小說和電影的方式，讓一個由等級和預設角色定義的世界浮現(xiàn)出來。在這其中，最激烈的浪漫沖動與尼克和瑞切爾相對乏味的愛情故事關系不大，更多是與無盡的奢華和王朝權(quán)勢的誘惑有關。這一點，大概還是相當現(xiàn)代的。