'Joy Ride' review: Sex, drugs and representation in bawdy comic romp

A raunchy throwback comedy with progressive attitudes toward sexuality and diversity, "Joy Ride" is a bawdy romp with one foot in the past and another planted firmly in the present.

It's a little bit "The Hangover" and a little bit "Girls Trip," starring a predominantly Asian-American cast. And even if it doesn't hit the comic highwater marks of those forebears — or "Bridesmaids," the gold standard of ladies behaving badly comedies — "Joy Ride" is a road trip well worth its mileage.

Ashley Park ("Emily in Paris") and breakout Sherry Cola star as best friends Audrey and Lolo, inseparable since childhood, when they were the only two Asian American kids in their suburban Washington town.

The script by "Family Guy" vets Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao wastes no time setting its outrageous, anything-for-a-laugh tone. When Audrey and Lolo first meet, a playground encounter with a bully hurling racist insults begets a knockout punch from Lolo, and the gauntlet is thrown. It's clear from the outset that this ain't no "Joy Luck Club."

Years later, and now in the present, Audrey is a lawyer headed on an important business trip to China, and she invites Lolo to tag along with her. But in comedies like these, two is never the magic number, and their group is rounded out by Audrey's college friend Kat ("Everything Everywhere All at Once" Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu), an actress, and Lolo's wild card cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu, in the Zach Galifianakis-type outsider role), a K-Pop superfan.

This foursome heads off, and the particulars of the trip aren't as important as the R-rated shenanigans director Adele Lim (a "Crazy Rich Asians" screenwriter making her feature directorial debut) sets in motion. The sitcommy, let's-get-to-the-next-gag-style execution of the script, which often relies on characters acting stupidly to push the story forward, could use a sturdier framework. But those gags are engineered for maximum audience impact, including one sequence set to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's "WAP" that features a reveal worthy of the Farrelly Brothers' most outrageous moments. That moxie alone makes "Joy Ride" worth experiencing in a theater, as the communal aspect of seeing it with a group of people outweighs the strength of any individual bits. In short, it won't play as well at home.

The beats may be familiar, and movies like this require its core of main besties to somehow fall apart in order to come together again at the end. But "Joy Ride" makes up for its clichés with the strides it makes in terms of representation, which matters so much that it's worth repeating. It matters. And "Joy Ride" more than proves its characters can get down with the Seth Rogens of the world. (Rogen is a producer here, along with his frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg.)

"Joy Ride" is sex positive and drug friendly and doesn't feel the need to hold its characters to strict judgement for their behaviors. Those dicey uncertainties have had a negative effect on comedies in recent years, as Hollywood navigates the treacherous waters of shifting moral and political goalposts. But a laugh is a laugh, and "Joy Ride" has an abundance of those to go around. Worry about the rest later.

agraham@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @grahamorama

'Joy Ride'

GRADE: B-

Rated R: for strong and crude sexual content, language throughout, drug content and brief graphic nudity

Running time: 92 minutes

In theaters