Comedies have been missing the mark more often than not so far this year, but “Joy Ride” proves to be the exception. Unfiltered, raunchy humor is what can be expected in large supply from this compelling, yet formulaic comedy. The cast may be underwhelming, the story a bit too predictable, and the director a little too green, but this movie delivers some memorable hilarity that makes it all worth it.
Best friends since childhood, Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lola (Sherry Cola) couldn’t be more different from each other. Audrey is the responsible, career driven attorney while Lola is the mouthy and reckless artist obsessed with the use of genitalia in her creations. When Audrey is given the opportunity to advance her career by flying to China to close a major deal for her firm’s client, she naturally takes her best friend to help her translate. What could possibly go wrong?
Upon arriving, the pair meet up with Kat (Stephanie Hsu), Audrey’s college roommate turned Chinese soap star, and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lola’s oddball cousin. Part of securing the business deal requires Audrey to learn about where she’s from, putting the four on a quest to locate her birth mother. A series of unfortunate calamities derail the ladies down a path of debauchery, making this a trip none of them will soon forget.
If the comedic story of four girlfriends taking a trip together sounds familiar, that’s because the same basic outline has already been used twice this year alone in “80 for Brady” and “Book Club: The Next Chapter.” Thankfully, “Joy Ride” executes this outline to much greater success. First time director, Adele Lim, makes plenty of rookie mistakes but overcomes them by fashioning a fast pace that transitions the audience quickly from one moment of laughter to another. This makes going through the motions of a very predictable storyline more enjoyable and a lot less tedious.
Lim, who also co-wrote the screenplay, incorporates quick-witted, bawdy dialogue, coupled with occasional slapstick to generate most of the laughs. While her creativity may be lacking when it comes to the story or cinematography, it excels in the honest crudeness of the humor. Lim follows “The Hangover” formula pretty closely, especially when it comes to the characters, but she also offers true exposure to Asian culture.
Starring in the lead role is Ashely Park, who has very limited film acting experience, but shines as the rule following workaholic who slowly realizes that she’s been valuing the wrong things in life. She gives an authentic performance that makes her character very likable. Comedian Sherry Cola is also short on film experience, but that doesn’t stop her from being the primary source of belly aching laughter as the highly inappropriate, unapologetic best friend. Her line delivery and comedic timing is on point. Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) provides some exceptional moments throughout the film but fizzles to the background too frequently.
The performances from the rest of the cast are fairly weak and ineffectual. This is Sabrina Wu’s first feature length film, and it shows. She fails to embrace her Zach Galifianakis type role as the strange, socially awkward cousin, making her performance lack realism. Her line delivery and timing were robotic, suffocating the humor out of the scenes in which she played a main role.
“Joy Ride” may not be perfect, but it has enough comedy and entertainment to make for a worthwhile journey. If you’re looking to plan a girl’s night out while escaping the heat of the summer and don’t mind adult oriented humor, this may be the ideal option to see in the theater.
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