When Everything Everywhere All at Once star Stephanie Hsu is about to get caught with hard drugs in the red band trailer for Joy Ride, she has to think quickly. And well, instead of deciding to swallow coke and pills like her friends, she hides the drugs up her asshole.
Putting a spin on comedies like Girls Trip, the movie stars Hsu as Chinese soap opera star Kat, who ends up in the aforementioned situation while helping with her college friend Audrey’s (Ashley Park) search for her birth mother in China. They are joined on the trip by Audrey’s childhood best friend and “hot mess” Lolo (Sherry Cola) and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s “eccentric cousin.”
The film is described as a “hilarious and unapologetically explicit story of identity and self-discovery” in the official logline, which also promises that “their no-holds-barred, epic experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging, and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.”
Joy Ride was directed by Adele Lim from a screenplay by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, with Seth Rogen and his frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg producing. Ronny Chieng, Desmond Chiam, Alexander Hodge, and Chris Pang also star in the movie.
Hsu is coming off her Oscars performance of the Everything Everywhere All at Once soundtrack standout “This Is a Life” alongside David Byrne and Son Lux. She lost out to co-star Jamie Lee Curtis for Best Supporting Actress, but Everything Everywhere All at Once was a bigger winner during the 2023 Oscars. In addition to winning Best Picture, the Daniels shared the trophy for Best Director, and Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.
Joy Ride careens its way into theaters on July 7th.
