Hello, crazy rich Asians, meet Mr Billionaire

Crazy Rich Asians and Hello Mr. Billionaire are two 2018 summer hits that poke fun at the insane, inane lifestyles made possible by extreme wealth. The former, an American-made film, extols a "Chinese" identity but pulls its punches in social terms, while the latter, a Chinese film made entirely in China, punches away with gleeful scorn and hard-hitting jabs.

The irreverent and crazy Hello Mr. Billionaire, by directing duo Yan Fei and Peng Damo, is not great art, but it sails right past the American-directed film Crazy Rich Asians in its courageous irreverence, social satire and exposure of the rich-poor divide.

For all its first-class swagger and vaunted "Chineseness", Jon Chu's Crazy Rich Asians is a timid tale that lily-gilds Singapore tourist destinations and exploits the glory of Chinese cuisine as exotic filler. The food glorified within might be Chinese, but it's a white-bread film that follows tired old Western tropes.