Crazy Rich Hollywood 影评：疯狂的好莱坞富豪

I had hoped that the movieCrazy Rich Asians,which opens in theaters in the mainland today, would be a satire about the decadent lives of those who inherit astonishing amounts of wealth without ever doing anything to earn it. It’s not. It is a celebration of the lifestyles of young men and women who have no purpose in life except trying to look stylish and who think nothing of taking a private jet to fly from Singapore to Shanghai just to buy a million-dollar-plus bauble.

电影《摘金奇缘》于今天在中国内地影院上映，我曾以为这部影片会是用来讽刺那些继承巨额财富、不劳而获的人的颓废生活的。然而，事实并非如此。它只是赞美了年轻男女的生活方式。这群年轻男女生活的全部意义就是追求时尚。他们认为乘坐私人飞机从新加坡飞往上海买一件价值100多万美元饰物并没有什么大不了。

This movie has been widely praised by the politically-correct American chattering class for being the first movie in twenty years to feature an all Asian cast. (They don’t count movies actually made in Asian countries.) The argument is that Asians will feel empowered by seeing someone like themselves in a movie. But, I’m confident that none of the hard-working people I know in China would see anything of themselves in the shallow, spoiled, pointless money-worshippers depicted in this movie.

这部电影在政治正确的美国闲聊阶层中好评如潮，因为它是20年来第一次全亚裔演员主演的电影。(他们并不将亚洲国家制作的电影计算在内。)他们认为，亚洲人会因为在电影中看到相似的自己而信心满满。但是，我坚信，我了解的、勤劳的中国人并不会从这部电影描绘的肤浅、娇生惯养、毫无意义的拜金主义者身上看到自己的影子。

I’m amazed that the film has not been criticized for its glorification of great wealth and careless, extravagant spending. What happened to the outrage against income inequality? America’s fashionable posers only pretend to care about that.

我惊讶的是，这部电影并未因歌颂巨额财富继承者，倡导挥霍无度的生活方式而受到指责。而对收入不平等的愤怒呢？美国时尚的装模作样者只是假装在意收入不平等罢了。

This is a Hollywood movie, not an Asian movie. It reflects the values of Hollywood, not of most Asians—nor of most Americans.

这不是一部亚洲电影，而是一部好莱坞电影。它反映的既不是大多数亚洲人的价值观，也不是大多数美国人的价值观，而是好莱坞的价值观。

As might be expected, the director, Jon M. Chu, is best known for having directed two Justin Bieber documentaries. After visiting the Amsterdam hiding place of Anne Frank, Bieber famously wrote that he hoped “she would have been a Belieber,” (his word for one of his fans) if she had just not been so unfortunate as to have died in the Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Followers of Justin Bieber should love this movie.

正如人们所料，导演朱浩伟因其执导的两部贾斯汀•比伯纪录片而闻名。比伯在阿姆斯特丹参观了安妮·弗兰克的藏身之处后，便写下了这样一句话:如果她没有死在贝尔根-贝尔森集中营，那么他希望“她会是比伯的粉丝。”(这是他对自己的一个粉丝所说)所以贾斯汀·比伯的粉丝们会很喜欢这部电影。

There are some gorgeous views of Singapore, but they are repetitive. After two long hours, even such photography becomes boring.

虽然电影里有些新加坡的靓丽风景，但是它们总在反复出现。两小时的时长之后，即使再迷人的风景也会索然无味。

The story is Jane Austen without the wit or the insight into human emotions.

这则故事就是失去了敏锐人类情感洞察力的简·奥斯汀版本。

Our heroine, Rachel Chu, played by daytime soap opera actress Constance Wu, is a Chinese-American economics professor at New York University. Her boyfriend, Nick Young, played by Singaporean Henry Golding, is also a professor of something or other at the university.

剧中女主是美籍华裔纽约大学经济学教授周瑞秋（吴恬敏饰），她的男友是同校教授杨尼克（亨利·戈尔丁 饰）。

Rachel’s mother arrived in New York from China while pregnant, later telling Rachel that her father died before she was born. Working her way up from poverty, Rachel’s mother eventually becomes a successful middle-class real-estate agent in Queens.

瑞秋的母亲从中国去纽约时还有孕在身，后来告诉瑞秋，她的父亲在她出生前就去世了。瑞秋的母亲通过努力工作摆脱了贫困，最终成为皇后区一名成功的中产阶级房地产经纪人。

We are told that Nick and Rachel are in love. But there seems to be no chemistry between them. There is not enough story to explain why they love each other, except that they are both pretty good looking.

虽然我们得知尼克和瑞秋在谈恋爱，但是他们之间好像并没有发生什么化学反应。除了他们都长得漂亮外，也没有什么足够的理由能解释他们为什么相爱。

Nick unexpectedly asks her to accompany him back to Singapore, where he will be best man in a wedding. Rachel has no idea that he is rich until they are booked into a first-class bedroom for the flight.

瑞秋收到尼克的邀请去新加坡参加婚礼，这有点出乎意料。在婚礼上，尼克将担任伴郎。直到他们订了头等舱的机票，瑞秋才知道原来尼克是富豪。

The plot from there is predictable. Nick’s family rejects Rachel because she is not from a wealthy family. There are lots of photos of how the super-rich live and party. She overcomes lots of snubs to eventually get her man.

故事情节可想而知。尼克的家人因瑞秋并非出自名门而拒绝接受瑞秋。超级富豪生活和聚会的照片琳琅满目。瑞秋遭受了众多冷遇，最终克服困难守住了自己的爱情。

Nick catches Rachel to propose marriage to Rachel while she is boarding her economy-class flight back to New York. But he does this only after getting permission from his mother. What a brave hero.

尼克在瑞秋登机坐经济舱回纽约时，向她求婚。但是他是在得到自己母亲的允许后才敢这样做的。真是个“勇敢的”英雄！

Nick’s mother, our villain, played by Michelle Yeoh, is ridiculed as a hypocrite. She spends more in a week, maybe in a day, than most people earn in a lifetime, but still quotes the Gospel of Matthew: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal.…For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

尼克的母亲（杨紫琼饰），是剧中的反派角色，人们将其视为伪君子。她一个星期，或许是一天花的钱都超过大部分人一生赚的钱，但她仍然引用了马太福音中的话:“不要为自己积攒财宝在地上，地上有虫子咬，也有贼挖窟窿来偷......因为你们的财宝在哪里，你们的心也就在哪里。

It’s easy to make fun of such hypocrisy, but is the shallow hedonism and vast social irresponsibility glorified by this movie better?

这种虚伪的行为遭到人们的取笑是必然的，那么这部电影是否美化了肤浅的享乐主义和社会的不负责任呢？

In order to write this review, I felt it was my duty to read the trilogy of books by Singaporean Kevin Kwan, on which the movie is based. Be warned, the second book moves the story to mainland China. It turns out that Rachel’s real father is one of the richest men in China. That makes her acceptable to Nick’s family and friends. So, don’t worry—everything is okay in the end.

为了写这篇影评，我认为我有义务去读新加坡作家关凯文的“富豪三部曲”，该电影改编于《疯狂的亚洲富豪》。值得一提的是，第二本书将故事转移到了中国大陆。原来瑞秋的生父是中国大富豪之一。这让尼克的家人和朋友都能接受她。所以，别担心，最后，一切都会好起来的。

I’ve been trying to figure out how China transformed itself in forty years from one of the poorest countries in the world to its current middle-income status. So, I’ve asked lots of Chinese why they think this was possible. The almost universal answer is that it’s because Chinese people work so hard.

我一直都想弄明白，在过去的四十年里，中国是如何从一个全球最贫穷的国家之一跃入中等收入国家行列。为此，我采访了许多中国人，问他们中国是如何做到的。而普遍答案就是因为中国人民异常勤劳。

China Daily has had many stories of young people who were able overcome poverty by the dint of hard work and by building up businesses.

《中国日报》上讲述了许多青年通过努力工作和自主创业摆脱贫困的故事。

Let’s see some movies about the real crazy, hard-working Asians.

让我们去看一些讲述真正疯狂、勤劳的亚洲人的电影吧。