Crazy Rich Asians Ending Explained

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Crazy Rich Asians.

The 2018 romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians had a happy ending that saw Nick and Rachel get engaged, but the couple had to go through a lot in the film to get to that point. Crazy Rich Asians is considered one of the best recent romance book-to-movie adaptations. The movie was based on the 2013 book of the same name by Kevin Kwan, and the screenplay was written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, the latter of which went on to write Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and write and direct Joy Ride (2023).

Crazy Rich Asians was the first film with a majority Asian cast to be produced by a major Hollywood studio in a modern setting since 1993’s Joy Luck Club. It was a monumental film and a huge commercial success, grossing $239 million on a $30 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo, which made it the highest-grossing romantic comedy movie of the 2010s. Now, almost 6 years after its initial release, Crazy Rich Asians has found itself trending again as it became available for streaming on Netflix on June 6, 2024.

The Meaning Of The Mahjong Scene Explained

The Mahjong Scene Was A Turning Point In Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an economics professor from New York, and her boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding) from Singapore, who travel back to his home country to meet his family and attend Nick’s best friend’s wedding. When they arrive, Rachel learns that Nick’s family is not only very wealthy, but they, and many others in Nick’s life, disapprove of her. After Nick’s mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) and grandmother Su Yi (Lisa Lu) confront her and share unsavory details of her mother’s past, Rachel decided to go home without Nick.

Before doing so, she had her own confrontation with Eleanor during a game of Mahjong where she came out victorious. However, it wasn’t just a game of Mahjong, but a chance for Rachel to show Eleanor who she is and disprove all the assumptions Eleanor made about her. As an economics professor, Rachel had expertise in game theory, which came in handy during the Mahjong game.

Once again, Eleanor made wrongful assumptions about Rachel, including that she was selfish and wouldn’t know how to play Mahjong properly because she’s Asian-American. Yet, Rachel proved her wrong when she not only won but told her she’d rejected Nick’s proposal when she could have selfishly said yes. Wu delivered a brilliant monologue about how when Nick does settle down with someone Eleanor approves of, it’d be because she walked away, a “poor, raised by a single mother, low-class immigrant nobody.”

Why Rachel Finally Accepted Nick’s Proposal

Rachel Initially Declined His Proposal

As aforementioned, Rachel initially rejected Nick’s proposal in Crazy Rich Asians before finally accepting it at the end of the film. Rachel didn’t say no to Nick the first time because she didn’t love him but rather because she loved him enough to let him go. The scene came after Nick’s mother and grandmother confronted Rachel about her mother’s past, which Rachel had been unaware of. Nick apologized and asked Rachel to marry him, saying he’d leave everything in Singapore behind, including his wealth and family.

Yet, Rachel couldn’t let him do that. The movie cuts to the Mahjong scene where Rachel reveals she declined his proposal because she didn’t want to be the reason he lost his family. She made the difficult decision so Nick didn’t have to. However, Nick couldn’t let her go either.

At the end of Crazy Rich Asians, in typical dramatic rom-com fashion, Nick showed up on her plane ride home to ask her to marry him again. As he told her, “wherever you are in the world, that’s where I belong.” When he revealed the ring to her, it was his mother’s. Seeing that Nick wouldn’t have to choose after all and that they had Eleanor’s blessing, Rachel finally said yes.

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Why Eleanor Gave Rachel & Nick Her Blessing

Eleanor Had A Change Of Heart In Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians doesn’t show the scene where Eleanor gives Nick her ring and him and Rachel her blessing. Eleanor’s final scene is wordless, with her locking eyes with Rachel during their engagement party and them sharing a silent nod before Nick and Rachel kiss. Yet, the movie gives plenty of context that helps explain why Eleanor ultimately gave Nick and Rachel her blessing at the end of Crazy Rich Asains.

Throughout Crazy Rich Asians, Eleanor emphasizes family. She admonishes Nick for going so far from home and rarely visiting them, wanting the family to stick together. Eleanor resents Rachel not just because of her background, but because she has the power to take Nick away from his family. She doesn’t think Rachel can fully understand what family means because she grew up with a single mother in America, away from the traditional Asian culture Nick was brought up in.

However, when Rachel turned down Nick’s proposal because she didn’t want to take him away from his family, Eleanor realized she’d been wrong about her. Rachel wasn’t the selfish American she’d assumed her to be, and she valued family just as much as the Youngs did. When Rachel turned Nick down, she wasn’t just letting him be with his family, but she was choosing to go back to New York with her mother. When Eleanor gave Nick her ring in Crazy Rich Asians, it was her way of welcoming Rachel into the family and acknowledging her wrongs.

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The Biggest Changes Crazy Rich Asians Makes To The Book Ending

Crazy Rich Asians Made Many Changes From The Original Book

Though Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan didn’t write the screenplay, he was involved with the film, even making a cameo during the Radio One Asia sequence. Despite his involvement, like most book-to-movie adaptations, changes were made for the screen. Some of Crazy Rich Asians’ biggest book changes were with the ending. For most of the movie, Chiarelli and Lim’s screenplay is faithful to the novel, but some major changes were made, for better or worse.

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In both iterations of Crazy Rich Asians, Nick’s cousin Astrid (Gemma Chan) is married to Michael (Pierre Png), who is cheating on her. At the end of the film, she decides to finally leave him and take their son with her. However, Astrid’s subplot receives much more attention in the Crazy Rich Asians book. When she learns about Michael’s cheating in the book, she tracks down Michael’s mistress and finds out she has a child, causing her to wonder if Michael’s the father.

During this, she reconnects with her ex-fiancé Charlie (Harry Shum Jr.) at Colin’s (Chris Pang) and Araminta’s (Sonyo Mizuno) wedding, which takes place around the film’s midway point. Yet, in the Crazy Rich Asians movie, they don’t reconnect until the short mid-credits scene. This changes Astrid’s storyline in the movie and will likely impact Crazy Rich Asians2.

How Crazy Rich Asians’ Ending Sets Up Crazy Rich Asians 2

The Crazy Rich Asians’ Credits Scene Sets Up A New Potential Romance

The mid-credits scene with Astrid and Charlie was meant to be a cliffhanger to set up Crazy Rich Asians 2. Plans for the sequel were announced shortly after the first movie’s premiere in 2018, and viewers are still anxiously waiting to dive into Astrid and Charlie’s love story. Though the Crazy Rich Asians book has a sequel titled China Rich Girlfriend, it’s unlikely that their plots will be as similar as they were in the first.

In the sequel book, Astrid is still with Michael, and Charlie is married but still pining for her. Nick is estranged from Eleanor and his grandmother because of his engagement, and Rachel meets her biological father. There are also some crazy storylines involving poisoning, drag racing, and kidnapping. Rather, Crazy Rich Asians 2 will follow Astrid and Charlie’s story where they left off, with Astrid newly single. According to World of Reel, Crazy Rich Asians 2 will begin filming in early 2025.

Crazy Rich Asians Could Become A Trilogy

There Are Three Books In The Crazy Rich Asians Series

China Rich Girlfriend isn’t the only sequel Kwan wrote to Crazy Rich Asians. In 2017, the third and final installment in the Crazy Rich Asians book trilogy, Rich People Problems, was released. In the final book, the characters fight to be included in Nick’s grandmother Su Yi’s will, as she is on her deathbed. Since Kwan’s books are satirical looks at wealthy Asian families while the Crazy Rich Asians movie focused more on romance and the story’s themes, a third film would likely make some changes to the plot as well.

In Rich People Problems, Nick and Rachel are finally happily married and return to Singapore to make amends with Su Yi. This could be the basis of a third movie, as Crazy Rich Asians never suggested Su Yi fully accepted Nick and Rachel. If Crazy Rich Asians 2 is as big a hit as the first one was when it’s finally released, it would make Crazy Rich Asians3 even more likely.

The Real Meaning Of Crazy Rich Asians’ Ending

Crazy Rich Asians Is About Cultural And Class Divisions

Crazy Rich Asians might be a romantic comedy, but there is so much more to the story than romance. Crazy Rich Asians introduced many viewers to the unique cultural divide that can exist between Asian people born and raised in Asian countries and Asian Americans. Rachel being Asian American is as problematic for the Young family as her being from a poor background. It takes until the very end of Crazy Rich Asians for Rachel to finally make Eleanor see how unfair and discriminatory she’s been.

From Crazy Rich Asians’ opening scene, it was clear it would be much more than a love story. The scene took place in London in 1995 when a soaking wet Eleanor and her family entered a nice private hotel speaking Cantonese. The white receptionist assumes she doesn’t belong there, even when Eleanor started speaking English and says they’d already spoken. The manager even suggests she “explore Chinatown.” The hotel’s owner then comes into the lobby to set things straight, as he’s sold the hotel to the Youngs and Eleanor is the new “lady of the house.”

This scene sets the tone of Crazy Rich Asians by introducing the racist microaggressions Asian people face, regardless of wealth. It also introduces Eleanor as a character who is not what she may seem to be on the outside. Despite Eleanor knowing what it’s like to be judged, she continues to judge Rachel. Eleanor has to learn to unpack her biases to accept Rachel, just as others had to do with her. The themes of class, race, and culture in Crazy Rich Asians help make it stand out from other romantic comedies as an instant classic.

Sources: Box Office Mojo, World of Reel

Crazy Rich Asians

Based on the global best-selling series Crazy Rich Asians is a  romantic comedy that follows New York Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family. However, she soon discovers her significant other is hiding a secret – his family is one of the wealthiest families in Singapore – and her mother already disapproves of her and her origins. Rachel will attempt to find her place in the madness and prove her own worth to a family of unflinching prejudice.  

Director

Jon M. Chu

Release Date

August 15, 2018

Writers

Pete Chiarelli , Adele Lim

Runtime

121 Minutes