老外在中国：《摘金奇缘》差评！

I had hoped that the movie Crazy Rich Asians, which opens in theaters in the mainland today, would be a satire about the decadent lives of those who inherit astonishing amounts of wealth without ever doing anything to earn it. It’s not. It is a celebration of the lifestyles of young men and women who have no purpose in life except trying to look stylish and who think nothing of taking a private jet to fly from Singapore to Shanghai just to buy a million-dollar-plus bauble.
电影《摘金奇缘》于今天在中国内地影院上映，我曾希望这部影片会讽刺那些继承巨额财富、不劳而获的人的颓废生活。然而，事实并非如此。《摘金奇缘》歌颂了一群人生全部意义就是追求时尚的年轻男女的生活方式，他们把乘坐私人飞机从新加坡飞往上海买一件价值上百万美元的饰物视为家常便饭。

This movie has been widely praised by the politically-correct American chattering class for being the first movie in twenty years to feature an all Asian cast. (They don’t count movies actually made in Asian countries.) The argument is that Asians will feel empowered by seeing someone like themselves in a movie. But, I’m confident that none of the hard-working people I know in China would see anything of themselves in the shallow, spoiled, pointless money-worshippers depicted in this movie.
这部电影在政治正确的美国意见领袖中好评如潮，因为它是20年来第一部全亚裔演员主演的电影(他们并不将亚洲国家制作的电影计算在内)。他们认为，亚洲人会因为在电影中看到与自己相似的演员而备受鼓舞。但是，我确信，没有一个我认识的勤劳的中国人能从这部电影描绘的肤浅、娇生惯养、无所事事的拜金主义者身上看到自己的影子。

I’m amazed that the film has not been criticized for its glorification of great wealth and careless, extravagant spending. What happened to the outrage against income inequality? America’s fashionable posers only pretend to care about that.
我惊讶的是，这部电影并未因歌颂有钱任性、挥霍无度的生活方式而受到批评。对收入不平等的愤慨哪去了？赶时髦的美国“造势者”只是假装关心这个问题罢了。

This is a Hollywood movie, not an Asian movie. It reflects the values of Hollywood, not of most Asians—nor of most Americans.
这不是一部亚洲电影，而是一部好莱坞电影。它反映的既不是大多数亚洲人的价值观，也不是大多数美国人的价值观，而是好莱坞的价值观。

As might be expected, the director, Jon M. Chu, is best known for having directed two Justin Bieber documentaries. After visiting the Amsterdam hiding place of Anne Frank, Bieber famously wrote that he hoped “she would have been a Belieber,” (his word for one of his fans) if she had just not been so unfortunate as to have died in the Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Followers of Justin Bieber should love this movie.
可以料到，导演朱浩伟最出名的就是执导了两部贾斯汀·比伯的纪录片。在阿姆斯特丹参观了安妮·弗兰克的藏身之处后，比伯写下了那句著名的: “她本会成为我的粉丝”，如果她没有死在贝尔根·贝尔森纳粹集中营。贾斯汀·比伯的粉丝们应该会很喜欢《摘金奇缘》。

There are some gorgeous views of Singapore, but they are repetitive. After two long hours, even such photography becomes boring.
虽然电影展现了新加坡的靓丽风景，但它们反反复复出现。两小时之后，即使再迷人的风景也会索然无味。

The story is Jane Austen without the wit or the insight into human emotions.
该片就是简•奥斯汀式的剧情，但缺少了简•奥斯的风趣机智和对人类情感的洞察力。

Our heroine, Rachel Chu, played by daytime soap opera actress Constance Wu, is a Chinese-American economics professor at New York University. Her boyfriend, Nick Young, played by Singaporean Henry Golding, is also a professor of something or other at the university.
片中女主是纽约大学经济学教授，美籍华裔瑞秋•周（日间肥皂剧女演员吴恬敏饰），她的男友是同校教授尼克•杨（新加坡人亨利•戈尔丁饰）。

Rachel’s mother arrived in New York from China while pregnant, later telling Rachel that her father died before she was born. Working her way up from poverty, Rachel’s mother eventually becomes a successful middle-class real-estate agent in Queens.
瑞秋的母亲怀着身孕从中国来到纽约，后来瑞秋得知，她的父亲在她出生前就去世了。瑞秋的母亲通过努力工作摆脱了贫困，最终成为皇后区一名成功的中产阶级房地产经纪人。

We are told that Nick and Rachel are in love. But there seems to be no chemistry between them. There is not enough story to explain why they love each other, except that they are both pretty good looking.
虽然剧情设定尼克和瑞秋在谈恋爱，但是他们之间似乎并没有什么火花。除了两人颜值都不错之外，没有足够的剧情解释他们为什么相爱。

Nick unexpectedly asks her to accompany him back to Singapore, where he will be best man in a wedding. Rachel has no idea that he is rich until they are booked into a first-class bedroom for the flight.
尼克突然邀请瑞秋陪他回新加坡参加婚礼，在婚礼上，尼克将担任伴郎。直到他们订了头等舱的机票，瑞秋才知道原来尼克是富豪。

The plot from there is predictable. Nick’s family rejects Rachel because she is not from a wealthy family. There are lots of photos of how the super-rich live and party. She overcomes lots of snubs to eventually get her man.
故事情节可想而知。尼克的家人因瑞秋并非出自名门而拒绝接受她。影片中有许多描写超级富豪生活和聚会的场景。瑞秋遭受了众多冷遇，最终克服困难守住了自己的爱情。

Nick catches Rachel to propose marriage to Rachel while she is boarding her economy-class flight back to New York. But he does this only after getting permission from his mother. What a brave hero.
尼克在瑞秋登机坐经济舱回纽约时，向她求婚。但他是在得到自己母亲的允许后才敢这样做的。真是个“勇敢的”英雄！

Nick’s mother, our villain, played by Michelle Yeoh, is ridiculed as a hypocrite. She spends more in a week, maybe in a day, than most people earn in a lifetime, but still quotes the Gospel of Matthew: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal.…For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
作为剧中反派，尼克的母亲（杨紫琼饰）被嘲是伪善者。她一个星期，或许是一天花的钱都超过大部分人一生赚的钱，但她仍然引用了《马太福音》中的话:“不要囤积凡间的财物，害虫会毁坏，小偷会盗走……真正的财宝，应该是在心所在的地方。”

It’s easy to make fun of such hypocrisy, but is the shallow hedonism and vast social irresponsibility glorified by this movie better?
取笑这种虚伪很容易，但电影里被美化了的肤浅享乐主义和社会上普遍的不负责任又能好到哪儿去呢？

In order to write this review, I felt it was my duty to read the trilogy of books by Singaporean Kevin Kwan, on which the movie is based. Be warned, the second book moves the story to mainland China. It turns out that Rachel’s real father is one of the richest men in China. That makes her acceptable to Nick’s family and friends. So, don’t worry—everything is okay in the end.
为了写这篇影评，我认为我有义务去读读这部电影的原著——新加坡作家关凯文的《疯狂的亚洲富豪》三部曲。值得一提的是，第二部将故事设定在中国大陆。原来瑞秋的生父是中国大富豪之一。她因此获得了尼克的家人和朋友的认可。所以，别担心，最后一切都会好起来的。

I’VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW CHINA TRANSFORMED ITSELF IN FORTY YEARS FROM ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD TO ITS CURRENT MIDDLE-INCOME STATUS. SO, I’VE ASKED LOTS OF CHINESE WHY THEY THINK THIS WAS POSSIBLE. THE ALMOST UNIVERSAL ANSWER IS THAT IT’S BECAUSE CHINESE PEOPLE WORK SO HARD.
我一直都想弄明白，在过去的四十年里，中国是如何从一个全球最贫穷的国家之一跃入中等收入国家行列。为此，我采访了许多中国人，问他们中国是如何做到的。而最普遍的答案就是因为中国人民十分勤劳。

CHINA DAILY HAS HAD MANY STORIES OF YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WERE ABLE TO OVERCOME POVERTY BY THE DINT OF HARD WORK AND BY BUILDING UP BUSINESSES.
《中国日报》报道了许多青年通过努力工作和自主创业摆脱贫困的故事。

LET’S SEE SOME MOVIES ABOUT THE REAL CRAZY, HARD-WORKING ASIANS.
让我们去看一些讲述真正疯狂、勤劳的亚洲人的电影吧。

翻译：王艮艮（实习）
编审：董静 丹妮
音频编辑：焦洁
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About author and broadcaster

David Blair writes for the international weekly editions of China Daily.