‘Americana’ Review: A First-Rate Crime Thriller Infused With Altman, Tarantino, & Coen Brothers, Boasting An Ensemble Cast At The Top Of Their Game

The stars of Joy Ride will receive at Comedy Ensemble of the Year Award at CinemaCon next month. Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu will be honored April 27 during the confab’s Big Screen Achievement Awards at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Joe Leydon Film Critic Winner of SXSW’s narrative grand jury award, “Raging Grace” deserves ample credit both for what it is and what it is not. But it’s difficult to be much more detailed in any appraisal of this cunning thriller without prematurely releasing cats from bags. On the other hand, it is safe to say that Paris Zarcilla, the British-born Filipino writer-director here making his feature debut, does an impressive job of infusing scary movie conventions with the potent urgency of a sharply observed social critique. Right from the start, Zarcilla generates a compelling rooting interest in his protagonist: Joy (Max Eigenmann), a single Filipina mom who’s trying to maintain a low profile while working at various housekeeping jobs — mostly for well-off folks who sound condescending even during the most innocuous conversational gambits — and saving to purchase a gray-market visa so she and Grace (Jaeden Paige Boadilla), her mischievous young daughter, can remain in London.

Adele Lim’s debut film, Joy Ride, will make you cry your eyes out, in addition to showing the audience that women know how to party hard.

do go sideways in Adele Lim’s laugh-out-loud hilarious directorial debut “Joy Ride,” a sweet mix of a buddy comedy and a girl’s trip film that will have you laughing so much you’ll cry — and then crying for real, and laughing some more. This is such a bold and genuine movie, one that highlights the concepts of found family, maternal connections and doing what makes you happy alongside all of its unrestrained and risque fun.  The boisterous comedy follows Ashley Park’s Audrey, a Chinese girl adopted by white parents in a mostly-white suburban town.

The stars of Joy Ride are hitting the red carpet!

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In 1993, “The Joy Luck Club” made Hollywood history, proving to a skeptical — and let’s face it, racist — industry that there was mainstream demand for a culturally sensitive Chinese American ensemble drama. Three decades later, along comes “Joy Ride,” throwing sensitivity to the wind en route to obliterating any remaining barriers. Like “Girls Trip” with an all-Asian-American cast, the Seth Rogen-produced, hard-R road movie follows small-town besties Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) to Beijing, where they tackle everything from taboo tattoos to a devil’s threesome with all the gusto you’d hope or expect from “Crazy Rich Asians” co-writer Adele Lim’s directorial debut.

Ghost shirts, which are sacred to certain Indigenous communities, were thought to guard the wearer against bullets through spiritual power. This precious heirloom is at the center of Tony Tost’s directorial debut film at SXSW, Americana. This western dramedy has some tricks up its sleeve, thanks to the brilliant writing and the script’s comedic timing. It boasts a big cast of actors including Sydney Sweeney, Halsey, Paul Walter Hauser, Zahn McClarnon, Simon Rex, Eric Dane and Gavin Maddox Bergman.

Joy Ride is definitely one of our most anticipated movies of the year!

Paris Hilton admitted it was tough for her parents Kathy and Richard Hilton to read her tell-all new book, Paris: The Memoir.

'Ashley Park and 's Sherry Cola seek the answer to that question in their raunchy new comedy,, which makes its premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday. In the film, directed by  co-writer Adele Lim, Park stars as Audrey, a young woman who was adopted from China as an infant. When she sees a business trip to Asia as the opportunity to find the birth mother she never knew, she recruits help from a few unlikely allies -- her foul-mouthed hot mess of a BFF, Lolo (Cola), her college friend-turned-Chinese soap star, Kat (Stephanie Hsu), and Lolo's eccentric cousin, Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) — to turn the experience into an epic journey.The comedy — which features some explicit translation errors, a drug-addled train ride and the group disguising themselves as K-pop stars — also stars Ronny Chieng.

How could a trip to the motherland go so hilariously, disastrously wrong? The quartet at the heart of Adele Lim’s “Joy Ride” – Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu – have no idea what they’re in for at the top of the trailer, which Lionsgate released Friday ahead of the film’s premiere at SXSW.The trailer begins with the origin story of Audrey (Park) and Lolo’s (Cola) friendship, when they meet at a park as young kids. Lolo punches a white boy in the throat after he calls Audrey a racist slur, sealing the deal on their lifelong friendship.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Lionsgate has released the first trailer for Adele Lim’s “Joy Ride,” a comedy feature starring Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu. Premiering March 17 at SXSW, the film is set to be released in theaters July 7. “Joy Ride” tells the raunchy and fun story of how four best friends embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure. In the film, Audrey (Park) has to go to Asia on a business trip to close a massive deal. Things go drastically wrong when she searches for her birth mother with her childhood best friend Lolo (Cola), her college friend turned Chinese soap star Kat (Hsu) and Lolo’s eccentric cousin Deadeye (Wu). They also nearly end up in a Chinese jail for doing drugs.

EXCLUSIVE: Production is underway in Canada on sci fi-thriller Levels, starring Cara Gee (The Expanse), Peter Mooney (Burden of Truth), Aaron Abrams (Hannibal), and David Hewlett (Nightmare Alley).

Halsey’s feature film debut Americana opposite Sydney Sweeney – check out the clip below.Directed by Tony Tost, the modern-day western follows waitress Penny Jo (Sweeney) and lonesome cowboy Lefty (Paul Walter Hauser) as they plan to steal a mythical Native American artifact from criminals.Their plan, however, is made complicated by Mandy (Halsey), the girlfriend of the lead criminal, who decides to take the artifact for her own personal reasons.As reported by Deadline, the clip is the first time Penny Jo and Lefty come into contact with Mandy, after they tail her to a remote gas station.Other cast members include Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, Gavin Maddox Bergman, Simon Rex, Toby Huss and Harriet Sansom Harris.The film was announced last year under the title National Anthem. It marks the second major on-screen collaboration between Halsey and Sweeney, after they were both cast in upcoming TV series The Player’s Table back in 2020.The pair also appeared together in the music video for Halsey’s 2019 track ‘Graveyard’.While Americana represents Halsey’s first major on-screen role, their previous credits include voice roles in Sing 2, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies and and a cameo appearance in 2018’s A Star Is Born.Americana had its world premiere on Friday (March 17) at SXSW.

Pete Davidson, Joe Pesci and Edie Falco, will premiere May 4, the streamer announced Wednesday. As part of the reveal, Peacock also shared first-look photos from the series. Davidson serves as writer and executive producer and stars in the fictionalized version of his life. Falco portrays his mom and Pesci will portray his grandfather. “Bupkis” will include an array of guest stars, including Charlie Day, Brad Garrett, Simon Rex, Ray Romano, Kenan Thompson and Chase Sui Wonders. Judah Miller serves as showrunner, executive producer and writer. Lorne Michaels, Andrew Singer, Erin David also executive produced alongside co-writer Dave Sirus.

Pete Davidson is giving fans a sneak preview of his new comedy series from Peacock.

EXCLUSIVE: WithMayans M.C. coming to an end, star Danny Pino has lined up his next series role — the lead in Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s upcoming crime thriller from creator Chris Brancato (Narcos).

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic If they ever make a sequel to “The Celluloid Closet” — the landmark doc about the history of LGBT representation on screen — Lukas Gage should warrant at least two mentions. First, there’s the scene from the first season of “White Lotus” where Jake Lacy barges into the resort manager’s office, only to find Gage getting his salad tossed (a history-making moment for gay TV fans). And now there’s “Down Low,” an over-the-top, bottom-trawling comedy that wants to be for the gay community what “The Hangover” was to the mainstream — which is to say, wildly irreverent and incredibly wrong. Starring openly gay “Heroes” villain Zachary Quinto as Gary, a recently divorced, richie-rich zaddy hoping for a happy ending, “Down Low” doesn’t quite understand its own title — code within the Black and Latino community for men who consider themselves straight while having sex with other men — but that’s OK. “Down Low” is still light-years ahead of mainstream movies (including last year’s “Bros”) as debuting feature director Rightor Doyle delivers what an entire contingent of queer audiences have been asking for all their lives: namely, a comedy that’s as raunchy and inappropriate as the jokes they make between themselves. While nowhere near as extreme (or enjoyable) as 2009’s “I Love You Phillip Morris,” it’s still a rare enough occurrence to earn a dedicated following.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony has rounded out the cast for its untitled, R-rated rom-com, led by Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, with the addition of actor and rapper GaTa (Dave).

Last year, as the industry was looking to lift itself out the pandemic’s purgatory at the box office, SXSW lit the wick on A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, which wound up dynamiting the 18-34 hipster moviegoer set in what became the highest-grossing indie film of 2022, the best ever for the New York-based distributor, and now a potential Oscar Best Picture winner.