bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Matt Glasby

This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions.
The Chinese movie market grew rapidly in the late 2000s and early 2010s, becoming the world’s second largest in 2012.
Hollywood responded by wooing Chinese audiences with films set in China (2009’s Push), splicing Chinese stars into successful franchises (2013’s Iron Man 3) and including extra scenes in movies for Chinese viewers (2012’s Looper).
21 & Over, which premiered in 2013 – in the middle of this period and at the end of the gross-out comedy craze – is a Sino-American co-production that seemingly could not decide whether it wanted to please everybody or offend them.


Written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the screenwriters of 2009’s highly successful The Hangover, it is a bad-taste frat comedy that has a special Chinese cut, with extra scenes shot in and around Linyi in Shandong province.
The original version follows old friends Miller (Miles Teller of Top Gun: Maverick fame) and Casey (Skylar Astin) as they visit their pal Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) at university to celebrate his 21st birthday.

Despite the fact that Jeff has an interview for medical school the next morning – and a terrifying dad (Lost’s François Chau) – they go out and get him blind drunk, then cannot find their way home.
A cross-campus odyssey ensues with plenty of breasts, beer pong and bodily fluids. American Pie covered much the same ground 14 years earlier but is almost quaint in comparison.
However, what passed as harmless fun in 2013 definitely would not today.

The film opens with a montage of images of campus life, with an emphasis on women students in bikinis or jogging. Miller makes jokes about having sex with Casey’s underage sister.
In the film’s most near-the-knuckle scene, our heroes trick two blindfolded sorority girls into making out, for their, and presumably the viewer’s, entertainment.
If the sexism is depressing, the racism is astonishing. “Hey, you f***ing Jew, get in the cab!” Miller shouts at Casey by way of greeting.
In the next scene, he tells Jeff, “Happy birthday, you tiny yellow son of a b***h,” before making fun of his accent.
Miller – like American Pie’s Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) – is a truly terrible person, but it’s worth noting that nobody makes fun of his heritage.

Having an Asian lead character in a mainstream Hollywood comedy might seem like a step in the right direction – in 2013 at least – but Chon is Korean-American, not Chinese (and Chau is Cambodian-American), so it hardly counts as progress.
Even worse, as writer Asawin Suebsaeng of non-profit American progressive magazine Mother Jones points out, Jeff is “passed out for most of the movie and thus reduced to a glorified ethnic prop”.
Both Miller and Casey refer to him by his full name, Jeff Chang, at all times, which might be funny to begin with, but ultimately makes him feel less like an old friend than the butt of a tired joke.
Really, it is only the quality of the three central performances (particularly Astin’s) that makes the film watchable at all.
But there is a twist. Whereas most Hollywood films adapted for Chinese audiences add in throwaway moments, 21 & Over’s extra scenes bookend the movie, completely changing the narrative.

In the extended version – essentially a fish-out-of-water comedy – Jeff is a Chinese exchange student who comes to the United States and finds himself tempted from the path of academic righteousness by the dissolute locals, only to reject that life and return home.
“21 & Over, in China, is sort of a story about a boy who leaves China, gets corrupted by our wayward, Western partying ways and goes back to China a better person,” Lucas told the Los Angeles Times.
Not only does this move make a mockery of the original movie, but it caused international controversy when the production moved to Shandong, near where human rights activist Chen Guangcheng had been held under government house arrest since 2005.
Nicholas Bequelin, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, told entertainment news outlet The Wrap: “Picking Linyi as a film location is probably not a good idea, but signing a deal with [the local officials] directly responsible for one of [the] most egregious and cruel abuses of a human rights defender in China is really beyond the pale.”

This move did not help the film’s box office performance.
It opened to poor reviews and made a modest US$48 million worldwide­ – The Hangover pulled in almost 10 times that amount.
Perhaps nobody really wanted to watch a racist, ruthlessly mercenary comedy, no matter where they were in the world.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


5 sequels so bad they’re good to stream after Joker: Folie à Deux, from Jaws 2 to Grease 2

Speed’s Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock reflect with its ‘mad genius’ director 30 years on

Who is Darren Le Gallo, Amy Adams’ talented husband of 9 years? The actress just attended the Nightbitch premiere with her husband and their daughter Aviana … but how did they meet?

Meet Hollywood producer Ryan Murphy’s partner David Miller: the American Horror Story and Grotesquerie creator shares 3 sons with his photographer husband of 12 years

American cinema

How Chinese-American comedy 21 & Over became 2 movies, and why they’re both problematic

(From left) Miles Teller, Justin Chon and Skylar Astin in a still from 21 & Over (2013). Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Skylar Astin, Justin Chon and Miles Teller in a still from 21 & Over. The original Hollywood version of this frat comedy and the subsequent Chinese cut are both controversial, but for different reasons. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Teller, Chon and Astin in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Astin, Sarah Wright and Teller in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Astin, Chon and Teller in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

Chon in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

(From left) Teller, Astin and Chon in a still from 21 & Over. Photo: John Johnson/Twenty One and Over Productions, Inc.

In Ferry to Hong Kong, Casablanca meets The World of Suzie Wong, but cast nearly sinks it

Curt Jürgens (centre) in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959).

Curt Jürgens (centre) in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959). The movie, described by one commentator as part Casablanca, part The World of Suzie Wong, co-starred Orson Welles, who caused many issues for James Bond director Lewis Gilbert.

(From left) Orson Welles, Jeremy Spenser and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

Sylvia Syms and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

Orson Welles (left) and Curt Jürgens in a still from Ferry to Hong Kong.

A still from Ferry to Hong Kong (1959).

1984 meets Blade Runner in Shanghai-set sci-fi Code 46 with shades of Wong Kar-wai

Samantha Morton and Tim Robbins in a still from Code 46.

Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton in a still from Code 46. Shot in Shanghai on the fly, as well as in Dubai and elsewhere, Michael Winterbottom’s sci-fi takes elements from 1984, Blade Runner and Brazil and looks like a Wong Kar-wai film.

Samantha Morton (left) and Tim Robbins in a still from Code 46.

Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton in a still from Code 46.

Year of the Dragon, Michael Cimino/Oliver Stone triad thriller set in New York’s Chinatown

Mickey Rourke and Ariane in a still from Year of the Dragon.

Mickey Rourke as a police captain and John Lone as a triad boss in a still from Year of the Dragon (1985), a crime thriller set in New New York’s Chinatown. 

Rourke as Captain Stanley White in a still from Year of the Dragon.

Ariane as reporter Tracy Tzu in a still from Year of the Dragon.

Rourke plays a Vietnam-vet police captain in a still from Year of the Dragon.

John Lone as triad boss Joey Tai in a still from Year of the Dragon.

Rourke and Lone in a still from Year of the Dragon.

Ariane as reporter Tracy Tzu and Rourke as Captain Whilte in a still from Year of the Dragon.

How Dragonball Evolution, Hollywood’s worst ever manga adaptation, made a mockery of Akira Toriyama’s iconic series

Justin Chatwin and Emmy Rossum in Dragonball Evolution, the laughably bad 2009 movie adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s iconic Dragon Ball manga series.

Director James Wong (left) and Justin Chatwin, who played protagonist Goku, on the set of Dragonball Evolution.

Chow Yun-fat in a still from Dragonball Evolution.

Rossum (left) and Joon Park in a still from Dragonball Evolution.

(From left) Rossum, Chow Yun-fat and Jamie Chung attend a media event to promote Dragonball Evolution in Seoul, in 2009. Photo: AP

Rossum and Chatwin in a still from Dragonball Evolution (2009).

Why did first Hollywood film with a mostly Asian cast flop? The tale of 1961 musical Flower Drum Song

Flower Drum Song was the first Hollywood film with a mostly Asian cast. From left: Kam Tong, Miyoshi Umeki, James Shigeta, Nancy Kwan and Victor Sen Yung in a lobby card for Flower Drum Song. Photo: Getty Images

(From left) Jack Soo, Nancy Kwan, Miyoshi Umeki and James Shigeta in a lobby card from Flower Drum Song. Photo: Getty Images

Reiko Sato (left) and James Shigeta in a lobby card from the film. Photo: Getty Images

Miyoshi Umeki (left) and James Shigeta in a lobby card from the film. Photo: Getty Images

A poster for Flower Drum Song. Photo: Getty Images

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Racist, sexist Hollywood comedy from The Hangover writers underwhelmed viewers. Extra scenes in a Chinese cut made it a different movie


21 & Over, the 2013 comedy from The Hangover writers, raised eyebrows with its racism and sexual objectification. Extra scenes shot for a Chinese cut made it a quite different film but not a better one.
