This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
It seems that in 2023, raunchy comedies are having somewhat of a revival. The success of films like No Hard Feelings indicate that audiences want these types of films back in theaters. Now, midway through the year, Joy Ride has arrived. And it may just be the raunchiest, most outlandish comedy I have seen so far this year. Pairing together talented – and not to mention, funny – actresses like Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park and Sherry Cola together was bound for success. What I didn’t expect was to get a film that rivaled and surpassed No Hard Feelings for the funniest sex comedy of 2023.
Joy Ride follows the story of Audrey Sullivan (Ashley Park), an Asian American woman who was adopted by white parents from China, and Lolo (Sherry Cola), a Chinese woman who immigrated to America with her parents at a young age. The two became childhood best friends, and they embark together on Audrey’s business trip to China. There they are accompanied by Lolo’s cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) and met by Audrey’s college roommate turned Chinese movie star Kat (Stephanie Hsu). From there, the four engage in wild and raunchy antics on this vacation/business trip, where anything and everything can happen.
I have to establish right off the bat that if you’re not into very raunchy comedies about sex, then this movie may not be for you. Because that’s what the majority of this movie’s dynamic between the four main characters revolves around. With the exception of deadeye, who actually has an interesting story about loneliness and the struggles someone who is socially awkward and always online has making friends, the other 3 characters have their sex lives explored. Intimately.
That said, I actually really enjoyed the humor that Joy Ride brought to the table. It was outrageously funny and had myself – and the rest of my theater – laughing at just about every joke on screen. The writing was incredibly intelligent and witty, and that’s really what you need in a comedy like this. Far too long have we been saturated with dumb comedies that use silly gags to make things “funny” or try to cram an idea that a writer thought was funny into an existing story. With this movie, the humor felt crafted around the film and, specifically, the characters within the film very well.
This is helped quite a bit by the great performances from the lead cast, who all bring something interesting to the table. Hsu in particular continues to show why she was nominated for an Academy Award last year. Park and Cola also are great and have a wonderful dynamic on which the film rides, and Wu has some really impressive moments too.
What sets Joy Ride apart though is how it explores more mature themes within the movie’s dramatic moments as well. It’s not easy to make a movie about Chinese immigrants. Chinese-adopted babies and their families almost never get screen time. Yet these are both explored well and relate to each character’s identity exploration as the film progresses. In addition, we see moments of characters dealing with their past selves and how they’ve changed. It really has some great dramatic beats that enhance the rest of the story while not feeling out of place.
Where the film falters, however, really comes down to how predictable it can be. There’s not a ton of complexity to the film’s storyline. By the time you hit the middle of act 2, you’ve probably already seen where the film is going with everything. The filmmakers also employed comedy movie cliches that you’ll see scattered throughout that don’t really need to be there. While these don’t take away from the overall enjoyment I had with Joy Ride, it also doesn’t allow it to rise to the next level of comedies.
Final Thoughts
Joy Ride may just be the funniest film I have seen this year so far. While it deals with some absolutely raunchy subjects in hilarious form, it also provides a deeper message I was not expecting from a comedy film in 2023. It feels like the movie bridges the gap between sex humor and smart comedy perfectly, which is something I didn’t realize I wanted in a film. That said, if you don’t like a copious amount of sex jokes and crazy situations involving sex, drugs and alcohol, then this film may not be for you.
