Rating: 
Summary: A Heartbreaking and Powerful Testament to the Human Spirit
Review: "The Joy Luck Club" is a ground-breaking film with universal themes that anyone can relate to regardless of age, gender or nationality. Truly epic in its scope and haunting vision, the movie is also deeply heartfelt and familial, enhancing its ability to speak to the audience in myriad, boundless ways. This is an intimate portrait of two generations of Asian women - the mothers who risked everything to create a better life for their daughters in the United States. At this juncture in American history, the movie resonates more than ever by reminding the viewer of our fore-mother's immigrant experience. In doing so, "The Joy Luck Club" serves as a vibrant contemporary document on freedom and the pursuit of happiness.Ming-Na Wen (now known to millions as Ming-Na or Deb Chen on NBC's top rated drama "ER") is superb in the central role of June, greiving for her recently deceased mother with the 3 "aunties" who miantain her place at the mah-jon table. Their gatherings continue, with June's presence, and in the process form the backdrop from which these women's personal stories and life-journies are shared. Each auntie - and their now-adult Americanized daughters - explain their often-harrowing attempt to escape Communist China and their difficult transition to an American way of life in the U.S. Tears flow in both generations, not only for what has been lost, but also for what has been found here - a society with different values that challenges these women in unexpected but nearly universal ways. As both generations - and all eight women eventually - share their stories, the viewer literaly steps into each life, aware of where the characters end up, yet fully experiencing the challenges each of them faces. Set against the backdrop of June's trip to China to find her long-lost sisters (whom her mother was forced to leave behind in one of the film's most powerful sub-plots) "The JOy Luck Club" can be ANY family's story, regardless of how long they or their ancestors have lived in this country. In doing so, it succeeds at building bridges to the past, while staunchly looking ahead to the future. This is the sort of film that embraces real life and human themes, but also puts a face on what it means to be a zero-generation immigrant, or an exile in a land far from one's home and culture. Like the current spate of Latin and Soviet block immigrants and the last century's explosion of new Americans from Europe and Africa, we recognize through the characters the meaning and value of freedom, family and peace as well as the unimaginable challenges our elders faced in coming to this land of opportunity. The cast of Asian-American actresses is uniformly superb, straddling a delicate balance for the viewer that requires they be both accessible AND remote at once. Although long seen as a "woman's movie" the film deserves to be widely experienced by all people, including men, who might otherwise reject the film as nothing more than handkerchief fluff. In fact, since few similar films exist with central male characters, "The Joy Luck Club" stands as a film I believe many men would embrace if they give it a chance. The film speaks for our fathers and brothers, not just our sisters, mothers or wives. This is grand, epic storytelling with a heart, beautifully directed by Wayne Wang and amazingly accessible in every way, due to its stellar cast. Had there been a Best Ensemble Oscar designed to honor the contribution of a group of actors at the top of their form, "The Joy Luck Club" cast would have surely been honored. A magnificent film that fully captures what it means to be an American of any descent.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the great overlooked gems! Deserves a DVD release!
Review: This and the Ang Lee film "Eat Drink Man Woman" were both released at about the same time. And I think they may have cancelled out each other. Both are great but like any wonderful film, if another equally great film with a similar theme is released at the same time it can cause an overload. People won't go see either. So why should you see the Joy Luck Club? Because the acting is wonderful. Really top notch. If the current affection for having asian women in films lasts then maybe we could see more of these fine actresses. Too bad that so many wonderful actors can get typecast because of race but there is hope. I'd absolutely love some more films like this. Wayne Wang's direction is great. This story goes from funny to sad to touching without being cliche. This movie might be marketed more toward women, and it does hit on great female relationships, but it's not to sappy the boyfriend will cry from boredom.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Very Impressed with EITHER the Book or the Movie
Review: I had to read the Book and watch the movie in school and I did not like either of them. I had to also write a movie review for it so im gunna publish it to the whole world to see. Hope this helps anyone who is thinking about watching this movie or buying the book. Also there are a few spoilers in this review so be forwarned but their isnt anything that really ruins the story, wait what am i saying the story is to mixed up to really understand in the first place that it shouldnt make much of a difference. O well here goes nothing: The "Joy Luck Club" was just an average film due to its soap opera-like quality and random flashbacks. This made me confused by sending the plot into all different tangents and directions. When a book changes time frames, the reader can go back and re-read sections if need be. In a movie setting, however, the viewer cannot turn back and rewind the lost moments and the time frames quickly occur. The movie features only fine looking Chinese daughters who are part of this "Joy Luck Club." I felt that this was an unrealistic portrayal, as in the real world; there are many types of people. The "Joy Luck Club" is not explained to the audience and assumes that all have read the book prior to this movie. This movie was directed by Wayne Wang and the screen play was written by Amy Tan, who also wrote the book. This movie begins in San Francisco where a party is being held for Jing-Mei "June Woo". She has been given money to go to China to see her two lost sisters. Jing-Mei June Woo is played by Ming-Na. The movie followed closely to the book in some respects by not others. For instance, during the red candle scene in the movie, there was no mention of the importance of the candle. The chapters in the book were scrambled when they appeared in the movie. The acting was inconsistent. At the end of the film when she meets her sisters for the first time they do not seem to be reacting to each other. One of the women who is supposed to be the sister, also played the mother of June in a flashback. Andrew McCarthy who played Ted Jordan did a good acting performance and sold the scenes he was in, such as the scene where he told his mother off. Some of the mothers, such as Ying Ying and Lena Saint Clair who were played by France Nuyen and Lauren Tom respectively, made me want to laugh because of some of their unrealistic portrayals of overly broken Chinese accented English. The plot was sporadic at times and seemed to take away from the original story line to the point that was irritating. The whole movie was a series of flashbacks that each person lived through. There was originally a party at the beginning of the movie, but then the scenes would quickly shift backwards in time to each person's life. I liked the transition that the director made when June's father talked about her mother's past because he explained what the mother had experienced. The flashback of best quality, however, didn't quite fit into the movie where it had been placed. It seemed to throw the viewer into the scene without hesitation. This movie was also quite choppy with too many events occurring in rapid sequence which began to lose steam while becoming dull and redundant. Three out of the four mothers seem to have lived the same story comprised of a bad marriage followed by a divorce and remarriage with many trials and tribulations along the way. The themes were spelled out much more in the movie than in the book. The feather that was given to June was explained to her by her father without subtlety. The mother who sacrificed her life for her daughter was also played out and the reasons for it were amply described by the daughter. There was one theme that was explained in the end of "Best Quality". The scene was not portrayed or shown in the beginning of the flash back scene. This book, turned movie, would be better for an older audience, such as 40 and up. It is more of a "woman's movie" with a sappy ending that most men probably wouldn't like, me included. I give this movie a C, but would probably receive a B from a more mature viewer who may be more interested in true life situations as opposed to comedy or action movies that a younger viewer might enjoy. I would give this 2 1/2 stars but I could only select either 2 or 3 which is why I selected 2. Hope this helps!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This tearjerker adaptation based on the book by Amy Tan, is about four Chinese mothers and their American born daughters, and how the distinct cultural chasm in their upbringing, play into their daily lives. The flashbacks into the young lives of each mother is masterful storytelling filled with rich imagery.
But it is the everyday struggles of modern life with their daughters and the conflicts between them that most will easily recognize. In this way the movie does not exclude the general viewer from identifying with their own personal relationships with their mother, spouse, or friends. This is one of the best technically engineered movies I have ever seen. The way in which the lives of the characters are weaved together is nothing short of genuis, and the movie slides flawlessly from the present to the past and back to the present again The story of each mother's youth is both heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time, and with their somewhat broken english offer up an amazing amount of simple yet profound statements and insights as they tell their story and try to impart upon their daughters wisdom gained through both suffering and sacrifice. The modern day entanglements of each daughter and their often tense relationships with their moms, show us in the end that no matter who we are, or where we come from, the bond between a mother and daughter is often a complex enigma, full of conflicting emotions. Throughout all this, the main underlying issue is the trip to China one of the daughters is about to embark on, to meet for the first time, two sisters previously abandoned in wartime China while at the same time paying a personal tribute to her own mother. If I had to flaw the movie it would be the constant onslaught on one?s emotions right up until the very end.
Nevertheless, I still give it 5 stars although I am sure this movie will appeal more to women. FAVORITES MOVIE QUOTES: "..and on that day, second wife's hair began to turn white" "All around me I see the signs. My daughter looks but does not see. This is a house that will break into pieces" "But Lena had no spirit, ..because I had none to give her" "I like being tragic mom... I learned it from you"
Rating:
Summary: A great movie from a story by a wonderful writer
Review:
Having spent a year in China (1948), I admit to a soft spot for the Chinese people and their stories, and especially for Amy Tan, whose books I have read and loved. This superlative movie was based on her book of the same name.
In this story (the script was written by Tan and Ronald Bass) the tension between four Chinese women, who were born in China and later came to the United States, and their Americanized daughters, is the foundation of the story, and is the theme that epitomizes Amy Tan's stories. She has noted in an interview that such tension existed in her own life between her and her own mother. Much of the tension is due to the cultural clash. Times in China were hard a few short decades ago, and life was harsh. Starvation and disease was rife even in later years, when I was there in the late 'forties. When Americans today refer to poverty or hunger in this country, they have no conception of the real poverty and hunger that existed in China in the 'thirties and 'forties, or customs like the very painful historical binding of women's feet, which in effect crippled them for life, in the name of beauty, or the custom of wealthy Chinese men often having multiple wives and concubines, or the total degradation of women which existed and was totally accepted throughout the culture. Not to mention the impact of continuing warfare between warlords, the nationalists (Kuomintang) and communists, and the Japanese occupation all of which lasted for generations. This is an emotion evoking story. It is more than simply entertainment; it is a story with which you will identify, with characters with which you will empathize. Amy Tan knows whereof she writes, and her stories are compelling and sympathy evoking. Another Chinese woman who wrote her autobiography which touched on some of the same themes, who was in Tsingtao when I was, and whose tale enchanted me, was Dr. H. Mei Lu, who now lives in Honolulu, and whose book was titled, "Grandfather's Microscope" q.v. Coming from a humble background, in China, she became an esteemed pathologist in the United States. I heartily recommend her book as well as Amy Tan's, for any Sinophile. These ladies both write extremely well, and have immensely interesting things to say. Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)
author of The Road to Damascus
and other books
Rating:
Summary: Timeless
Review: This is one of my favorite movies of all time because of several reasons: 1) It came out at a time when I desperately wanted to see Hollywood make an Asian-American film. 2) The American stories totally brought back my childhood. I almost felt like I was watching my life story. 3) It is a very well produced film - it just looks gorgeous. 4) It makes me cry every time I see it. I admit though, it's not a perfect movie. The acting was only okay. Rosalind Chao and Lauren Tom were very good, but Ming-Na Wen was only decent (she's gotten better through the years) and Tamalyn Tomita was kind of awful. The mothers were pretty good overall, with France Nguyen being the most memorable. The best acted scenes were the ones in China - or maybe it just seemed better because it was in Chinese. The script was also shamelessly cheesy at times - "You take worse quality crab because ... you have best quality heart!". Okay so that made me cry the first time, but that doesn't make it good writing. :) Still, despite it's flaws, this movie will always have a certain place in Hollywood history and it will continue to make me cry everytime I see it. As for the DVD version, it looks great but no Chinese subtitles?!?!?! That's just wrong.
Rating:
Summary: The Joyless Club
Review: I thought this movie was incredibly cheesy. So cheesy that when you put it between two slices of bread you could make a cheese sandwich. For instance, the mothers' stories, some of them seem too tragic to be true, I mean it just happens that in the club all 4 of the mothers(older women)coincidently all had tragedies in their earlier lives. Wasn't there one woman who had anything good to say? I think that this movie tried too hard to make people cry by making the stories so tragic and heartbreaking. Talk about sissy stuff. Some of the lines said by the mothers were incredibly cheesy, I can't recall them, but I know that they are a little bit overly done. In general I just don't like it. Every time I watch it, it gets cheesier and cheesier, I think I'll make myself a cheese sandwich now. All this talk about The Joyless Club is making me hungry.
Rating:
Summary: what a shame
Review: when i read the book as a little girl, i thought that it was wonderful...
yet, some things should be marked "handled with care" when being made into movies.... this movie was a HUGE disappointment. the actors themselves were wonderful, but they had little to work with.... by skipping many parts and changing others, they've basically lost a big part of the book. it's gone from a touching reflection of the lives of chinese women to just plain cheap sensation. sure the story was "touching enough".....but WHAT a disappointment. but hey, what can i say? it was a long book. and some things are too complex for the 2-D movie screen.
Rating:
Summary: great storytelling
Review: Great cast, plot, setting, story.. need I go on. You really feel for these family and friends as their lives are being displayed from past to present before your eyes. I couldnt get enough of it. I wish I could watch this over and over.
Rating:
Summary: Meaningful film...
Review: I have not read the book before and I borrowed this dvd from the library thinking that it should be boring. Boy! Was I wrong! I feel that the film is very interesting, heartwarming and easy to understand. It is about the lives of 4 pairs of Chinese mothers and daughters and also about the differences in their upbringing and expectations in China (all mothers in flim are from China) and in America (all daughters are born in America). It should appeal to a wide audience, especially American Chinese or Chinese who live abroad.
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