'Crazy Rich Asians' is the Asian-Centric Rom-Com We've Been Waiting For!

The first full trailer of Crazy Rich Asians has finally dropped, and we are officially excited!

Based on Kevin Kwan’s 2013 best-selling novel of the same title and directed by John M. Chu (Step Up 3D, Now You See Me 2), the movie stars Constance Wu ("Fresh Off The Boat") as Rachel, the girlfriend of Nick (Henry Golding), who invites her to a wedding in Singapore to meet his family. She then discovers his family is “crazy rich” and is thrust into an ultra-glamorous lifestyle with seemingly endless family members to impress.

Newcomer Golding worked as a travel host before being selected for this role, and his casting stirred up controversy almost immediately. Fans voiced their disapproval, saying they wanted to see an full-Asian male lead, and Golding is of Malaysian, Singaporean, and British descent. Despite living the majority of his life in Asia and six years in Singapore, Golding (as well as Wu) has been vocal on wanting more Asian representation in film and television and less criticisms on how Asian a person has to be in order to qualify for a role. Director John Chu has also voiced his experience with Hollywood pressure and pushback to telling a majority-Asian story, saying he was asked to change the lead-female to Caucasian instead.

Judging from the trailer, the film echos the premise of a gender-swapped Meet The Parents (with the son's girlfriend trying to impress his mother), as well as My Big Fat Greek Wedding as an ethnic family melodrama with universal appeal, which could make this film extremely relatable for all moviegoers. The trailer premiered on the "Ellen" show, where the host was quick to point out that the movie is the first big-screen, non-period piece that features an Asian-majority cast in over two decades. The movie isn’t here to portray the “token Asian characters”, or whitewash roles for Hollywood elites, but to show an authentic representation of contemporary Asia -- something film and television have yet to attempt ("Fresh Off The Boat" notwithstanding).

The film hits theaters August 17; check out the trailer below!

(Image via Warner Bros.)

- Ali Shannon, YH Contributing Writer