WHEN a Broadway star and an Oscar-nominated screen phenom decide it’s time to let loose, you’d better pay attention. Joining forces in the razor-sharp new comedy “Joy Ride,” Broadway favorite Ashley Park and screen trailblazer Stephanie Hsu take the wheel—not as sidekicks, but as bold, uproarious leads. Alongside scene-stealing co-stars Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu, the cast’s electric chemistry takes this story from zero to sixty, making the movie the kind of comedy that crashes through every expectation.
“Joy Ride” is a wild, women-powered romp about friendship, identity, and chaos on the open road. The story follows Audrey (Park), an overachieving lawyer and Chinese adoptee, sent on a business trip to Asia. Tagging along are her childhood best friend Lolo Chen (Cola), Lolo’s K-pop-obsessed cousin Deadeye (Wu), and Audrey’s glamorous college roommate-turned-soap star Kat (Hsu). Together, they embark on a roaring adventure across China—complete with unexpected detours, drug-smuggling train rides, and a string of late-night disasters. With these four women behind the wheel, absolutely anything can happen.
What sets “Joy Ride” apart isn’t just that it’s female-led, but that it’s also Asian-led—from its cast to its creative team. Directed by Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians”) and co-written with Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, the film is a no-holds-barred journey of belonging and self-discovery told through an unapologetically raunchy lens.
In an interview, Lim shared her vision for breaking stereotypes in her directorial debut: “There’s a certain way Asian American women, particularly, are portrayed in TV and film—there’s a lot of exoticization and fetishization. We really wanted to tell a story inspired by our friendship and our friends, and having characters that were messy and thirsty and just pieces of work.”
For Park, “Joy Ride” offered a rare opportunity to lead a major studio comedy and bring laughter to the forefront of Asian representation: “We are so excited just to have a movie out there that’s just making people laugh and to have an Asian movie be associated with an amazing comedy. I think Asian joy—that’s what the movie was and that’s what it felt like.”
Get in the driver’s seat and enjoy the chaos, the laughter, and the heart. “Joy Ride” streams exclusively on Lionsgate Play.
