Joy Ride is perhaps the funniest film of the year thus far, and one of the film's pivotal bits revolves around Kat (Stephanie Hsu) and a very specific tattoo.
After my screening ended, I recall hearing someone afterward ask, “How did they get away with that tattoo bit?” The more appropriate question is how did the MPA approve of it. For those that aren't aware, the tattoo is located in a very private area on Kat's body, and Joy Ride not only shows it in extreme detail but also shifts to a different perspective on a couple of occasions to further the bit.
Warning: Spoilers for Joy Ride ahead
In short, the tattoo bit is a pivotal part of Kat's journey. While Audrey (Ashley Park) was close friends with Kat during their college years, something is immediately off from the moment they meet again in China. Lolo (Sherry Cola) is hesitant to meet Kat at first, but in a desperate attempt to try and find some common ground between the two, Audrey spills some of Kat's biggest secrets including that she had been intimate with two of the three Jonas brothers (which does not impress Lolo), and that she has a “small” tattoo on her upper thigh.
Nevertheless, when they meet, it's incredibly awkward as Kat is a lot different than what Audrey advertised. She's suddenly a “Jesus freak” and is “waiting until marriage” to be intimate with her fiancé. It's incredibly awkward as Audrey doesn't want to see anything wrong with the scenario, but Lolo calls Kat's crap from the get-go.
Late in the film, we learn that the “small” tattoo is anything but. During their dance number at the airport, Kat's skirt falls off and her tattoo is revealed (in front of her fiancé, just to make matters worse). Her whole facade of being a religious zealot has quickly disappeared as her fiancé, mortified, runs off. The tattoo is huge and placed right in her private area to the shock of everyone (including Audrey).
It's a funny joke, no doubt, but you do wonder if the MPA had any comments on it. ClutchPoints spoke to the writers of Joy Ride, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, recently, and according to the former, the writing aspect of the bit was unaffected by the MPA.
“We had to make that shot slightly shorter,” she revealed. “When writing it, it was never a problem, you know what I mean?”
She continued, “We wrote that into the script, we filmed it, [and] it was all no problem whatsoever. We knew we wanted to take the comedy that far and then yes, just [with the] final product, at some point the MPA looks at it and [are] like [in a high-pitched voice], ‘Ehh, maybe a little bit too much. You're in NC-17 [territory] right now,' and then maybe you take a couple [of] frames out and then you can get your R rating.”
Her co-writer, Hsiao, then weighed in and had an interesting statement about the R-rated movie standards when it comes to genitalia humor.
“But, you know, I think like if you look at a lot of R-rated comedies in the past, like you think about The Hangover, you think about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where there's just d***s flying around all, all around, right? Like there [are] penises everywhere and you're like, ‘Oh, well, d***s are comedy, [so] apparently you could just show them everywhere,' and we wanted to have a movie where it's like, ‘Okay, hey, we are showing female genitalia, but it is in a funny way in the same way [men are shown],' she said.
Furthermore, Hsiao had a point when it comes to how men's nudity is portrayed vs. female nudity.
“A lot of times when women are shown in movies or on television, it's sexualized,” she said. “And this [Joy Ride] is a way where [we're saying] like, ‘Hey, we are showing genitalia, but it's not sexualized.'”
She reinforced that this tattoo bit in Joy Ride is “not sexy at all.”
“It is comedy in the same way that dicks were comedy, so that was sort of like [our] ‘Take back the moment!' you know?” said Hsiao to a chuckle from Chevapravatdumrong.
In conclusion, Hsiao said, “Yeah, sure — it is genitalia, but actually, you're really looking at a tattoo and you're really looking at this as a huge joke that is a pivotal moment for the character of this person who you've been on this journey with. So, [it's] not only a character moment but also hopefully — [it's] obviously a funny moment in the movie — a shocking one also.”
Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao are veterans of the comedy genre. Chevapravatdumrong has written for the likes of Family Guy, The Office, The Orville, and Resident Alien in her career. Hsiao co-created Awkwafina is Nora from Queens but has also been a writer on the likes of American Dad! and Family Guy.
Joy Ride follows two best friends since childhood, Audrey and Lolo, on a business trip to Shanghai. The former is an adopted Asian-American while the latter was born to and raised by Asian parents. Once in China, they are accompanied by Kat — Audrey's college roommate — and Lolo's cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu). When a business deal requires Audrey to confront her past and have to look for her birth mother, the four set out on a country-trotting journey with tons of hijinx, drugs, and intimate tattoos.
Joy Ride will be released on July 7.
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