Adele Lim is most persuasive when she lets Asian women behave badly without stopping to explain them. We like the rude ensemble comedy of her directing debut, though its repeated speeches about friendship keep getting in the way.
Fi1m perspective
A train carriage is where Joy Ride (2023) makes the strongest case for Adele Lim behind the camera. We laughed at that sequence because the filthy group comedy is allowed to take over. Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu are the chief reasons to watch, and Lim directs with the pace this material needs. The trouble comes when the film insists on telling us how much the friendship matters. Its jokes have already given us reason enough to care.
Before features, there were years of television, including a writing stint on One Tree Hill (2003) from 2006 to 2008. We found that series persuasive about teenage hurt and tiresome when it explained grievances we had already understood. That judgement belongs to the programme, and cannot fairly be pinned on one of its writers. Still, the comparison with Joy Ride is useful: both would benefit from trusting us to recognise an emotion without having it explained again.
Wider recognition came with her co-writing credit on Crazy Rich Asians (2018). She followed it with Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), working alongside Qui Nguyen on an animated film with Southeast Asian influences. She turned to directing with Joy Ride, sending four friends to China for a rude comedy about belonging. These characters are allowed to make fools of themselves, and that freedom suits Lim better than the obligation to say something reassuring about them.
Lim developed that film's story with Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, who wrote the screenplay. The familiar road-trip formula leaves too little room for Audrey's unease about where she belongs, which is the writing's most interesting subject. Nathan Matthew David's strings underline feelings that the dialogue has already explained. Start with Joy Ride for Cola and Wu, and allow for the speeches.
Biography
Adele Lim is a Malaysian screenwriter, producer and director. She was born in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, attended Sri Aman Girls School there, and graduated from Emerson College in Boston in 1996 with a degree in television and film.
Lim began her career in television, working as a script coordinator on Xena: Warrior Princess and later writing for series including One Tree Hill, Reign, Private Practice and Lethal Weapon. She co-wrote the screenplay for Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).
In 2023 she made her feature directorial debut with the comedy Joy Ride, on which she also received a story credit and served as producer. She has mentored emerging writers through organisations including the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.
