The Joy Luck Club (1993)
90%RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
4 wins & 5 nominations total
The Joy Luck Club traces the generational divide, unearthing universal truths while exploring lives through the lens of a specific cultural experience.
The Joy Luck Club is a movie that will make you laugh, cry, and reach for the tissues. It’s a heartwarming story about the bond between mothers and daughters, and the struggles they face as they try to understand each other’s cultures and identities. The ensemble cast is fantastic, with each actress bringing their own unique perspective to their role. While some may find the film melodramatic or manipulative, it’s hard not to be moved by the powerful emotions on display. So grab your eight handkerchiefs and settle in for a movie that will leave you feeling both joyful and touched.
Production Company(ies)
Charles Chaplin Productions,
Distributor
Buena Vista Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
610 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong depiction of thematic material
Year of Release
1993
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 18m
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Language(s):English, Mandarin, Cantonese
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Sep 8, 1993 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 19, 2002
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Rosalind Chao, Tamlyn Tomita, France Nuyen, Lisa Lu, Ming-Na Wen, Lauren Tom, Andrew McCarthy, Kieu Chinh, directed by Wayne Wang, written by Amy Tan, Ronald Bass, drama, R rating, box office gross $32.8M, reviewed by Mary F Chen, Derek Malcolm, Carrie Rickey, David Ansen, Joe Pollack, Richard Corliss, Rene Jordan, Augusto Martínez Torres, Molly Haskell, Marshall Fine, Steve Persall, Roger Hurlburt, Amy Tan’s bestselling novel, cultural conflict, generational divide, Chinese-American women, immigrant mothers, Mahjong, San Francisco, specific cultural experience, universal truths, parental relationships, female empowerment, Buena Vista Pictures, Ronald Bass, Patrick Markey, Amy Tan, MPAA rating R, surround sound, stereo
Worldwide gross: $32,901,136
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $68,344,055
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,201
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 7,453,005
US/Canada gross: $32,901,136
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $68,344,055
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 932
US/Canada opening weekend: $159,009
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $330,302
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,510
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $11,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $22,849,807
Production budget ranking: 1,300
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $12,304,621
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $33,189,627
ROI to date (est.): 94%
ROI ranking: 961
Tamlyn Tomita – Waverly Jong
France Nuyen – Ying-Ying St. Clair
Vivian Wu – An Mei’s Mother
Andrew McCarthy – Ted Jordan
Kieu Chinh – Suyuan Woo
Director(s)
Wayne Wang
Writer(s)
Amy Tan, Ronald Bass
Producer(s)
Ronald Bass, Patrick Markey, Amy Tan
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
4 wins & 5 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (85) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (73) | Rotten (12)
Both generations are fearful of revealing their true identities, yet hopeful of discovery. This is the greatest truth of The Joy Luck Club, both the film and the novel.
December 17, 2020
Mary F. Chen
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
The film persists in telling us what to think and feel, rather than letting us have our own quiet thoughts.
December 17, 2020
Derek Malcolm
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
This heartrending and transcendent adaptation of Amy Tan’s bestseller about a quartet of Chinese American daughters and their immigrant mothers is the ultimate movie about almost everyone’s first love: Mom.
December 17, 2020 | Rating: 4/4
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Melodramatic? Manipulative? Sure, at times, but great storytellers can get away with anything, and the trio behind this film are in that class.
December 17, 2020
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
While it’s a great tear-jerker, it falls short of being a great movie.
December 17, 2020
Joe Pollack
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
One warning: the typhoon of emotions makes this an eight-handkerchief movie. Bring four for the mothers, four for the daughters when they realize what brave resolve is hidden in an old woman’s stern love.
December 17, 2020
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Wang goes from homey intimacy to the political whirlwinds of China seamlessly, a one piece texture, without showing its seams.
[Full review in Spanish]
June 7, 2022
Rene Jordan
El Nuevo Herald (Miami)
No one will want to miss this celebration of the mother- daughter bond, that most vexed and fascinating of relationships — and one of the most neglected themes in American film.
August 4, 2021
Molly Haskell
Ladies’ Home Journal
The ensemble cast is perfect… All of the women playing the daughters Rosalind Chao, Lauren Tom, Tamlyn Tomita and Ming-Na Wen are equally strong, though Wen and Tomita are particularly affecting.
December 17, 2020 | Rating: 4/4
Marshall Fine
Gannett News Service
Not since Terms of Endearment has the brittle bond between mothers and daughters been presented in such effective and entertaining fashion.
December 17, 2020 | Rating: A-
Steve Persall
Tampa Bay Times
An unforgettable, highly emotional mosaic of a film.
December 17, 2020
Roger Hurlburt
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Wayne Wang ranks among the best filmmakers of his generation with this highly complex and near-perfect adaptation of Amy Tan’s debut novel. [Full review in Spanish]
December 17, 2020
Augusto Martínez Torres
El Pais (Spain)…
Plot
In San Francisco, four first-generation Chinese-American women and their mothers navigate cultural conflict and turbulent relationships in a series of sixteen vignettes in the adaptation of Amy Tan’s bestselling novel, The Joy Luck Club.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The ensemble cast is perfect… All of the women playing the daughters Rosalind Chao, Lauren Tom, Tamlyn Tomita and Ming-Na Wen are equally strong, though Wen and Tomita are particularly affecting.
Wayne-Wang.jpg
