Movie Time Review: Asian Persuasion

We got the opportunity to watch Asian Persuasion, a romantic comedy based in New York City and features a cast that represents Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders(AAPI) hence the film title. Directed by Jhett Tolentino and written by Mike Ang. The film is about a lovable underachiever who hatches a hilarious and outrageous scheme to avoid paying alimony to his fashion-executive ex-wife along with being a homage to the diversity in NYC. Starring Dante Basco (Rufio in Hook), KC Concepcion (Boy Golden) and a brief cameo from Apl.De.Ap from the Black Eye Peas.

From the beginning Asian Persuasion is a laughfest due to the script being hilarious from making fun about being a coffee shop owner to a pothead who is a hopeless bachelor. The script packs in enough city and cultural references to keep the audience engaged and holding their stomachs from laughing too much. Definitely one of the funnier movies that we seen this year and even though this movie was not on our radar for must see movies of 2025 we do recommend catching this film in its select run in the US or on VOD. There are so many funny scenes in the film and the dialogue between Mickey and Caspian is brilliant. KC Concepcion is great as Avery who is the woman that Mickey and the man that he tried to set him up with Lee(played by Paolo Montalban) after. There are some emotional moments towards the end of the film and of course the actual ending but it is not saturated or forced unto the audience. The pace of the film was steady. There was peaks and valleys in the film but it was minimal. Asian Persuasion is a great film for those who love rom-coms or those who love seeing the outer boroughs of New York City getting some love. Definitely one of our early top films for this year to see.