Jon M. Chu's Crazy Rich Asians movie makes a number of changes to the story of Kevin Kwan's novel, especially when it comes to the ending. Hollywood has been adapting books to the big screen for decades, but how much a movie changes the events or characters of its source material varies greatly. In the case of Crazy Rich Asians, Chu's movie - with a script by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim - actually stays pretty close to the book. The movie even keeps Kwan's first scene, a prologue of sorts set decades before the main events of the film.
The bulk of Crazy Rich Asians follows the love story between Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an NYU economics professor who spends her spring break traveling to Singapore with her long-term boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding). In Singapore, Rachel meets Nick's incredibly wealthy family, including his mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), visits her college friend Peik Lin (Awkwafina), and attends the wedding of Nick's best friend, Colin Koo (Chris Pang) to Araminta Lee (Sonoya Mizuno). Unfortunately, the trip doesn't go as planned, with Rachel facing backlash from the girls at Araminta's bachelorette party and Eleanor, who doesn't believe she's good enough for Nick. Ultimately though, Crazy Rich Asians gives Rachel and Nick a happily ever after rom-com ending, with the pair getting engaged with Eleanor's blessing.
Related: Screen Rant's Crazy Rich Asians Review
Of course, it's nearly impossible to adapt every aspect of a book for the movie version. As such, there are certain characters, storylines and events that are changed for the Crazy Rich Asians film. One of the biggest things to have been changed from book to movie is the ending. So, we break down exactly how the ending of the Crazy Rich Asians movie is different than the book and discuss why the changes were likely made.
- This Page: Astrid & Charlie Wu's Relationship
- Next Page: Rachel's History & The Proposal
Astrid Reconnects With Charlie Wu Later
For the movie, Crazy Rich Asians greatly simplifies Astrid's (Gemma Chan) storyline wherein she discovers her husband Michael (Pierre Png) is cheating on her and she decides to leave him. In the book, this plot is much more drawn out, with Astrid tracking down Michael's mistress and learning the woman has a child - and wondering whether or not the child is Michael's. Meanwhile, Astrid reconnects with Charlie Wu (Harry Shum Jr.), a man she had been engaged to when they were younger but left because her family disapproved of the match.
In the movie, Astrid and Charlie reconnect at Nick and Rachel's engagement party, as part of the Crazy Rich Asians mid-credits scene setting up a sequel or spinoff. This is a major change since it alters when the two reconnect. In the book, it's at Colin and Araminta's wedding, and Charlie subsequently helps Astrid investigate Michael's mistress. Since Astrid doesn't meet Charlie again until later in the film's story - in a mid-credits scene, no less - her storyline is much more focused on just her relationship with Michael and how that dissolves.
While fans of the books may be disappointed that Astrid and Charlie don't really get to interact in Crazy Rich Asians, save for their eyes meeting at the engagement party, it ultimately works better within the confines of a two-hour film. Certainly, it's unfortunate that an actor of Shum Jr's calibre was reduced to what is essentially a cameo, but if Crazy Rich Asians is successful, perhaps Charlie and Astrid will be the focus of their own movie. Plus, since Crazy Rich Asians is meant to be the story of Nick and Rachel, it makes sense for Astrid's storyline to be reduced.
Next Page: Rachel's History & The Proposal
Rachel’s Family History Is Revealed Earlier
In the Crazy Rich Asians movie, Eleanor and Nick's grandmother Su Yi (Lisa Lu) ambush Rachel and Nick at Colin's wedding, revealing the findings of Eleanor's private investigator. Earlier in the movie, Nick's aunt Alix (Selena Tan) offers up the private investigator to Eleanor, after their bible group learns Nick is bringing Rachel to the wedding. In the book, this confrontation arrives after the wedding, when Nick takes Rachel away for the weekend. But, since the movie is set over the course of the week while Nick and Rachel are on spring break, rather than the entire summer that their trip spans in the book, it makes sense to condense these events.
Further, the actual details of Rachel's family as revealed to her by Eleanor are slightly different than in the book. In the movie, Eleanor's private investigator manages to dig up the fact that Rachel was born out of wedlock while Rachel's mother Kerry (Tan Kheng Hua) was married to another man. Rachel later learns that Kerry fled her husband in fear that he would kill her and her illegitimate child. However, in the book Eleanor's investigation only turns up the fact that Kerry's husband is alive, instead of dead like Kerry told Rachel, and stuck in prison on mainland China - the investigator, and subsequently everyone else, believes this man is Rachel's father. It's not until later when Kerry arrives in Singapore that Rachel learns the full story - that Kerry's husband wasn't Rachel's father.
Again, the events are condensed but follow incredibly close to the book, with Rachel and everyone learning the basics of her parentage all in one fell swoop, then Kerry filling in the details a little later. However, the film adaptation cuts out the misdirect of who exactly is Rachel's birth father, likely to save on time. It ultimately helps the narrative of the movie stay focused on the relationship between Nick and Rachel since the third act of the book somewhat shifts to Rachel's family. Instead, with less time spent on Kerry's story and her reconciling with Rachel, Crazy Rich Asians focuses on giving Nick and Rachel a happily ever after ending.
Eleanor Gives Rachel & Nick Her Blessing
The biggest change between the Crazy Rich Asians book and movie is how the story concludes in terms of Nick and Rachel's relationship. In the book, Nick doesn't propose and whether he and Rachel are even back together is somewhat unclear. Instead, the book ends with Rachel reconciling with her mother after learning the real story of her birth. Then Rachel, her mother, Nick and Peik Lin get satay. It's a somewhat underwhelming, if more realistic ending. However, since Crazy Rich Asians leans fully into the escapist fantasy of the romantic storyline between Nick and Rachel, it makes sense that much of the third act is changed.
Nick's two proposals to Rachel - first with the ring he purchased unbeknownst to his family and Rachel herself, then on the plane with Eleanor - were added for the movie. That means the engagement party that serves as the final scene of the movie is also new. But arguably the biggest and most important addition to the Crazy Rich Asians movie is the mahjong scene between Rachel and Eleanor. It's a pivotal moment for the relationship between Rachel and Eleanor in which the former proves to the latter that she is good enough for Nick by choosing to walk away from the relationship. It's a turning point that's necessary for the movie to get to its happily ever after of Nick and Rachel's engagement. (A more detailed explanation of this scene and the significance of what's going on in the mahjong game can be found at Vox, written by Jeff Yang.)
Of course, whether the changes Crazy Rich Asians made to the characters and events of Kwan's novel are for the better is up to each viewer and can be debated by those who have read the book and seen the movie. Still, reviews for Crazy Rich Asians have been largely positive, with the movie receiving praise from casual moviegoers as well. So, it's entirely possible that the different ending of Crazy Rich Asians is ultimately better for the film.
