Joy Ride

Synopsis:

When Audrey's business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the help of Lolo, her childhood best friend, Kat, a college friend, and Deadeye, Lolo's eccentric cousin. Their epic, no-holds-barred experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.

Movie Review:

“Joy Ride” is directed by Adele Lim (making her directorial debut), and this is one of the funniest, raunchiest, and heartwarming road trip comedies I have seen in a long time. What made this movie work was the deep friendship and chemistry among the 4 women. Ashely Park plays Audrey Sullivan a young, smart hot shot lawyer who doesn’t break any rules. She gives an outstanding performance as this character. Sherry Cola steals the show as Lolo a sex crazy artist who is an irresponsible adult, and she has some hilarious moments in the movie that made me laugh the most. Stephanie Hsu plays Kat a popular actress in China and an old college friend to Audrey and she had some great scene stealers with the Audrey character. Sabrina Wu plays Deadeye a socially awkward goth whose dry straight-faced humor completed the group of friends. The supporting cast of David Denman, Annie Mumolo, Chris Pang, Alexander Hodge, and Ronny Chieng had important roles in the movie that made me laugh throughout. Some of the road trip aspects of the movie didn’t work for me and they relied too much on dirty jokes that didn’t land. Also, the story was predictable at times. But this is still an entertaining comedy and the characters made it fun to watch. I am giving “Joy Ride” 4/5 stars.

Director: Adele Lim

Cast: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, David Denman, Annie Mumolo, Chris Pang, Isla Rose Hall, Desmond Chiam, Alexander Hodge, Nicholas Carella, Debbie Fan, with Ronny Chieng, and Meredith Hagner

Runtime: 95 minutes