Female-fronted ensemble comedies are still relatively rare, but with “Bridesmaids” setting the tone some 12 years ago (!), we’ve since had “Trainwreck” and “Booksmart” and “Girls Trip” and “The Heat” and now comes “Joy Ride,” which had a working title of “The Joy F--- Club” and that would have been amazing and absolutely accurate. This is a ferociously funny, raunchy, bold and original buddy comedy with a mostly female, Asian American lead cast that teams up with director Adele Lim to deliver the funniest movie of 2023 so far.
I avoid saying a comedy is “laugh out loud hilarious” unless that’s literally true, but I laughed out loud at least a half-dozen times at the edgy antics of “Joy Ride” — and I was genuinely moved by the warmhearted scenes depicting the complicated bonds of friendship and family. Thanks to a crisp and insightful and sometimes silly screenplay by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, the surehanded and well-paced direction by Lim (writer of “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Crazy Rich Asians”) and the electric chemistry among the four leads, “Joy Ride” absolutely sings.
