Gambling with an Asian plot

A Hollywood comedy, which has broken barriers, is set for its mainland debut, Xu Fan reports.

For most critics in the West, the romance comedy Crazy Rich Asians is a watershed hit that could change the way Asian faces are perceived in Hollywood.

The movie-a modern Cinderella story-is the first major Hollywood studio film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years since The Joy Luck Club in 1993, and is set to open across the Chinese mainland theaters.

The $30 million movie, which has pulled in $174 million in North America in the past two months, is now the highest-grossing romance comedy in the world's largest movie market in a decade.

Aside from its commercial success, Crazy Rich Asians-which opens in China on Friday-has also received mainly positive reviews on review sites, exemplified by 92 percent critic reviews reckoning it "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.2 points out of 10 on IMDb.

Both websites are barometers of popularity used as significant reference points by Chinese film fans.

Besides, the story has a very Chinese flavor with the super-rich in the film having Chinese heritage.