Joy Ride is a 2023 American comedy film directed by Adele Lim, in her feature directorial debut, and written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, from a story by Lim, Chevapravatdumrong, and Hsiao. The film stars Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu, with Ronny Chieng, Meredith Hagner, David Denman, Annie Mumolo, Timothy Simons, and Daniel Dae Kim appearing in supporting roles.
The film was announced in 2018 following the partnership deal between Point Grey Pictures and Lionsgate, with Lim being confirmed as director in 2021. The cast was announced between August and October of the same year, and filming took place in British Columbia throughout the latter month.
Joy Ride had its world premiere at SXSW on March 17, 2023, and was released in the United States on July 7, 2023, by Lionsgate Films. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the lead performances and humor.
Plot
Audrey Sullivan, a Chinese adoptee with white parents, lives in White Hills, Seattle, with her childhood best friend, Lolo Chen. Audrey is an overachiever who works as a lawyer at a prestigious firm, while Lolo struggles to make ends meet with her sex-positive art. Promised a promotion to partner if she can close a deal with a Chinese businessman, Audrey and Lolo take a trip to China, joined by Lolo's cousin Vanessa, nicknamed "Deadeye", who is socially awkward and obsessed with K-pop. In Beijing, Audrey meets with her college roommate and close friend Kat, who is an actress on a popular daytime show, and despite being sexually promiscuous in college, is engaged to her co-star and Christian fiancé Clarence, who is saving himself for marriage.
The group meet Chao, the Chinese businessman, at a party. Chao says that in order for him to do business with Audrey, he must know about her birth family, whom she has never met. Lolo lies to Chao that Audrey is in close contact with them. Prior to the trip, Lolo had called Audrey's adoption agency and tracked them down. Audrey resolves to meet her birth mother and take her to Chao's party to close the deal.
The quartet board a train to Audrey's adoption agency, where they sit next to a drug dealer. They are forced to consume various amounts of cocaine after a train inspection; the drug dealer then steals their luggage and has them kicked off the train. Stranded in the middle of rural China, Lolo contacts former NBA star Baron Davis, whose team is currently playing in China. The four injure some of the players in sex-related accidents the following night, causing the team to refuse to drive them to their destination.
The group hitchhike their way to their destination. There, Audrey discovers that her mother is not Chinese but rather Korean. In a last-ditch effort to secure the deal, one of Deadeye's online friends secures them a private jet to Seoul, but without their passports, they pretend to be a new Korean idol group to pass the border. Lolo livestreams their idol performance of "WAP" on Instagram Live, only for Kat's skirt to accidentally fall off, revealing a large devil tattoo on her vulva. They are forced to instead take a boat into mainland Korea.
Lolo's livestream inadvertently goes viral, with hundreds of millions of people seeing Kat's vagina. Chao calls Audrey to inform her that the deal is off; Audrey then is fired from her job, while Kat is at risk of losing her television deal. The quartet have a falling out and split. Audrey learns that her birth mother has died and visits her grave, but meets her birth mother's husband there. Her husband shows Audrey a video recorded by her birth mother before her death and tells her that her friends had told him he might find Audrey at her birth mother's grave. Audrey returns to Seattle and makes peace with Lolo and Deadeye.
One year later, Audrey, Lolo, Kat, and Deadeye are in Paris for a best-friends trip. Audrey has started her own law firm, Lolo has begun waiting tables and selling her art, Deadeye has accepted themself as non-binary, while Kat's acting career has recovered and she is still engaged to Clarence.