Ashley Park on Joy Ride, getting raunchy, and a letter to Cardi B

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joy Ride, the ensemble R-rated comedy of the summer, has burst onto the scene with raunchiness, heart, and an unapologetic attitude. The film follows Audrey, played by Ashley Park, who goes to China for a work trip and, along with her friends, gets into more than she bargained for as the trip goes off the rails.

Host Brittany Luse talks to Ashley Park about the universality of raunchiness and how Joy Ride breaks the myth of the polished Asian-American woman. From unfortunate tattoos to a K-Pop rendition of WAP, Joy Ride helps audiences see that everyone can get a little nasty.

Transcript

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0:00.0	A warning, this episode includes explicit language.
0:06.5	Hey y'all, you're listening to its Ben a Minute from NPR. I'm Brittany Loose.
0:13.0	If I asked you to think of the biggest R-rated buddy comedies,
0:16.8	Super Bad or the Hangover may come to mind. And more recently, there have been new entries
0:21.6	like Friads Maze and Girls' Trip to shake things up. But last weekend, I think we got one more film
0:28.7	for the canon. Joy Ride. Joy Ride follows the story of Audrey, a young Asian American woman
0:43.2	who takes a business trip to China with three of her friends who are down for anything.
0:48.9	It's Ronshi and it's heartfelt and they come across a lot more than they bargained for.
0:55.1	That's lead actress Ashley Park. Along with her castmates Stephanie Shoe, Sheri Cola and Sabrina Wu
1:02.4	had my side splitting for the entire roller coaster that is Joy Ride.
1:08.1	Today, Ashley and I chat about the human urge in all of us to be Ronshi and how Joy Ride
1:15.0	challenges us to expand our idea of who's allowed to indulge that Ronshi-ness on screen.
1:21.2	Ashley Park. Welcome to its venom in it. Thank you so much for having me.
1:26.8	Oh, we're so thrilled. We're talking about Joy Ride today. The movie is Ronshi and it's so much fun.
1:32.2	And it's like a fantastic entry into the A-ha-ha-rated Ronshi Girls Blackbuster comedy genre.
1:41.3	The thing where you go to see it with your friends and you just laugh so hard you're crying in the
1:45.6	theater. How do you feel being a part of this canon and what do you feel like Joy Ride is doing
1:50.7	differently? Just first and foremost, like deeply grateful. I just love this genre of comedy so much
1:56.0	and it's also a genre that I just really never thought that I would have access to being a part of
2:01.6	especially as a protagonist. Asian American faces had that opportunity at in this genre in
2:07.2	particular. This like rated Ronshi comedy was to be the butt of the joke, right? And for me,
2:15.7	I just was like, if that's going to be what my opportunity is in this genre, I'd rather just
	...

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