Nena Erb, ACE initially turned down Joy Ride because she wanted to work on a quirky drama but the film team was persistent in bringing her vision onboard. In a race against time, Erb had a rough assembly cut put together four days after filming wrapped. The first cut for the film was about two and a half hours long and well beyond the film’s final run time, not to mention was also initially rated NC-17.
Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) have been best friends since childhood. With a promotion on the line, Audrey heads to China alongside Lolo and Lolo’s cousin, Deadeye (Sabrina Wu). After landing, they’re joined by actress and Audrey’s college roommate, Kat (Stephanie Hsu). From there, just about anything that can go wrong…will go wrong. But while the film is a raunchy comedy on paper, it’s not all laughs. Audrey was adopted at birth and seeks out her birth mother while overseas. The laughs die down for a bit as the film delivers its most emotional beat.
Joy Ride joined a solid list of Point Grey productions to premiere at SXSW. In recent years, they’ve launched Neighbors, Sausage Party, The Disaster Artist, Blockers, Long Shot, and Good Boys at the Austin-based festival. Following its successful SXSW premiere in March, Lionsgate released Joy Ride in theaters to further critical acclaim.
