Daily Times

If you’re like me, there comes a moment of truth in raunchy film comedies when you decide whether to fully join in the fun – or ride it out on the fence.

It often comes in a key early comic scene. Can they pull it off? If so you’ll be putty in their hands for two hours, ready to chuckle along no matter how gross it getsIf not, you’ll shuffle uncomfortably on the side-lines, feeling rather like a prude.

In first-time director Adele Lim’s ebullient, chaotic, nothing’s-too-gross-if-it’s funny road comedy “Joy Ride,” that moment came for me when watching Ashley Park swallow a disgusting concoction in a drinking contest, pretending all’s fine as her insides erupt. Expert comic chops cannot be faked. Park had me from that guzzle. Yet the impressive thing about “Joy Ride,” a comedy that more than earns its R rating – folks, it features a vaginal tattoo in full-frontal glory – is that there are similar moments for each of the superb quartet of actors that make this film buzz along.

Park, playing an ambitious and uptight lawyer, has the trickiest job, being funny while remaining the narrative centre, and tasked with making us not only laugh but cry. But each of her co-stars – comic Sherry Cola as a cheerfully profane, struggling artist, Sabrina Wu as her awkward, K-pop obsessed cousin and a fabulous Stephanie Hsu as a soap opera diva – pulls their weight in comedy gold. A viewer’s gross-out tolerance may vary; what unites is the laughter. Funny how simple it is when that works.

We first meet Audrey as a child in suburban Washington state, the adopted daughter of white parents who delightedly welcome Lolo, from a Chinese family, as a playmate for their daughter. When the bolder Lolo makes mincemeat of a white racist bully in the park, the girls launch a lifelong friendship.

Back to the present. Audrey, a lawyer so competitive she demolishes her boss at squash, is living in the same hometown – not for nothing is it called White Hills – and Lolo is nearby. Audrey’s boss promises a big promotion and a move to Los Angeles if she can seal an important deal in Beijing. Problem is, Audrey doesn’t speak Mandarin, so she enlists Lolo as a translator. As far as Lolo’s concerned, Audrey’s problems run deeper than her lack of language; she lacks any connection to her Asian roots.