Crazy Rich Asians: the perfect, ubiquitous inflight movie

What is it that makes a movie just perfect for watching inflight? It struck me recently, as I relaxed in my airline seat to the strains of Chinese jazz singer Jasmine Chen’s version of ‘Waiting for Your Return’, over the opening credits of Crazy Rich Asians once again, that this movie has been on pretty much every inflight entertainment system I’ve scrolled through in the past few years. But why?

What is it about Crazy Rich Asians that makes it such a shoo-in for airlines — not since Up in the Air does it feel like a movie has been on so many IFE screens — and why do so many passengers, myself included, keep watching it as a go-to comfort movie?

Partly, it’s inherently a travel film that many of us can empathise with: protagonist Rachel Chu lands in Singapore, a country she’s never been to, and there’s a fish-out-of-water feeling about the experience that feels all too real whizzing through the sky in a metal tube at nearly the speed of sound.

Some of the important scenes are even shot inside airplane cabins, with the invented Pacific Asean Airlines standing in as a sort of CGI-ed Singapore Airlines with the serial numbers filed off — at least it feels like SQ in the ultra-suite version that is even more deluxe than Singapore’s first class at the time.

There’s a certain plot pointedness about the economy class experience — clearly filmed inside an AirAsia X 3-3-3-configured cabin aboard an A330/A340, down to the seat fabrics — that is supposed to represent Rachel’s working class mother’s budget rather than her boyfriend-then-fiancé Nick Young’s lavish Singaporean first class lifestyle.

Part of the attraction is, in a sort of Selling Sunset, Below Deck or Real Housewives way, the opulence that the Youngs’ circles move in, as I discussed with a Singaporean who knows her movies: Jasmin Lim, Asia Content Acquisition Manager at content service provider Spafax.

“There’s something about the sky that makes people crave a little bit of opulence. Perhaps it’s the altitude, the endless blue, or the fleeting sense of freedom,” Lim suggests. “Whatever the reason, Crazy Rich Asians has become the cinematic equivalent of a first-class upgrade. With its dazzling jewels, extravagant parties, and a plot that’s as twisty as a pretzel, this movie is the perfect antidote to the cramped economy seats and bland inflight meals. It’s like a private jet for your eyeballs, transporting you to a world where everyone’s a millionaire and the only thing more impressive than their bank accounts is their couture.”

Indeed, the movie is beautifully shot, a kind of visual love letter to Singapore, one of the most picturesque of cities. The iconic wedding scene in the historic CHIJMES former convent, the montage as Nick and his friends show off Singapore to Rachel, the showdown in Gardens by the Bay, the meeting on Queen Elizabeth Walk with the Fullerton Hotel in the background… there are certainly arguments about cultural focus and broad-strokes pastiche to be made, but the movie paints the Merlion City so lovingly that many sins can be forgiven.

The wonderful soundtrack, full of classic standards and modern Mandarin covers, bops from Jasmine Chen through Grace Chant through Sally Yeh, helps set the scene, and it sure doesn’t hurt that the costuming is beautiful and the entire cast is very easy on the eyes. The excellence in acting makes their characters come to life, whether the tour de force of Michelle Yeoh’s matriarch Eleanor Young, or the comic timing of the Goh family, played by Awkwafina, Ken Jeong and Chieng Mun Koh.

But it’s also that the stakes in the movie are immediately familiar to so many viewers. Your boyfriend’s mother doesn’t like you? You don’t have to be billionaire Singapore proto-royalty to put yourself in Rachel’s shoes. While the plot is tight and twisty at times, navigating family approval is also a universal story that comes with relatively low stakes, where the worst that will happen to our heroes is a broken heart. With the oddly heightened emotions that flying brings, there’s something reassuringly comforting about that, like a comfortable sweater we can shrug into. What better for a feel-good inflight movie?