By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Does fate sail the ship of our life? Or are we the captain of our ship? What’s the best part of a romantic relationship? Many of us spend a lot of time and thought on wanting our love lives to reach some point of completion in terms of finding “the one.” But what if the best part is “the in-between—that long space between beginnings and endings? That’s what the new movie, “Worth the Wait,” streaming on Tubi starting May 23, suggests. With an all-Asian cast, and set in Seattle and Malaysia, “Worth the Wait” wonders about the way our lives intertwine.
Spoiler: Leah (Lana Condor) takes a trip to Malaysia to be with Kai (Ross Butler). Credits: (c) 2025 Worth The Wait Movie, LLC
At the start of the movie, a female voice, maybe that of the main female protagonist, Leah (Lana Condor), puts forth the thesis of sorts that life is out there “putting the pieces together for us,” and “connecting everything and everyone” in “ways we don’t even see.” To support this thesis, “Worth the Wait” follows several groups of people, mainly couples—one couple comes with a mom-in-law, one couple comes with a protective uncle—as they narrowly miss running into each other, and sometimes do run into each other (even literally lol) throughout the movie. As we go along though, there is an impression that fate isn’t really determining things here—people are.
Kai (Ross Butler) is cleancut as can be – and under a lot of pressure at work. Credits: (c) 2025 Worth The Wait Movie, LLC
We start at the airport with Kai (Ross Butler), who is a dead ringer for Henry Golding in “Crazy Rich Asians.” He arrives in Seattle for business, presumably, impeccable in a well-fitted suit and conservative haircut that nevertheless persistently falls charmingly into his dark eyes. Kai unwittingly hires a carpool rideshare, and winds up with a woman going into labor next to him. This motley assortment of unlikely collaborators—including the woman, her husband, the mom-in-law, and the drive—wind up at the hospital where Kai bumbles about and meets Leah, who wins the Nurse of the Year Award by volunteering to help when she is not on shift. Leah is cute as a button, she and Kai immediately fall for each other, and also immediately ask themselves, what the heck are we doing? Nevertheless, they continue to do it—they hang out for the rest of the day and into the evening on the quintessential first date.
Ali and Ricky play Blake and Riley. Credits: (c) 2025 Worth The Wait Movie, LLC
That’s one run in. We soon meet the driver, Curtis’ (Sung Kang) family, which consists of his high school age niece, Riley (Ali Fumiko Whitney), who is somewhat secretly dating Blake (Ricky He). I say “somewhat” because Blake has a very exuberant personality and it’s hard for the two love birds to keep it under wraps.
“I relate to Blake because I am also a dumbass,” joked He in an interview with the Northwest Asian Weekly. “He’s not so smart,” added He (I’ll say he’s goofy). “He tries to add levity and happiness to everybody’s lives.” This includes hatching a plot with Riley to help Curtis get a [love] life so that he will get off their backs. He said that he, too, is a hopeless romantic and feels that the characters of Blake and Riley are relatable to anyone.
“Obviously it’s super common in Asian households to be protective,” he allowed and said he could imagine teenagers watching the movie with their love interests while lying to their parents that they are “at a friend’s house.”
“I definitely could relate to what it felt like to be a teenage girl fighting for her first love,” said Kumiko Whitney, who enjoyed the “puppy love” aspect of Blake and Riley’s story. She agreed that all audiences will relate to their coming-of-age story. “They believe it will last forever,” she commented wistfully. “Even though they are both so young.” Kumiko Whitney and He agreed that life, just like in the movie, was a mix of fate and self-determination. Their characters, combined with grumpy Uncle Curtis, provide what is the most light-hearted portion of the film, as the others have some heavy sh*t to deal with. Everything starts out dreamy for Kai and Leah, for instance, as they spend, for the moment, their only time together in person (they will engage in a long distance relationship)—a whirlwind several hours in which they share everything about themselves except for the fact that Kai works for his dad, which turns out to be a bit of a sticking point after Kai gets back to Malaysia and life interferes with love.
Andrew and Elodie play Scott and Amanda. Credits: (c) 2025 Worth The Wait Movie, LLC
For the couple that loses their baby, there is heartache and there is the struggle to return to an even keel, with whatever that might mean in the new circumstance. A third couple, Amanda (Elodie Yung) and Scott (Andrew Koji), are ex’s thrown together on the set of a movie Amanda stars in. The original director has been let go because Amanda and he broke up, and he has been replaced by another ex, Scott. I loved seeing Koji in a casual role, though I am perplexed as to how he manages to look so messy even when dressed in the most fashionable un-messy way. Anyway, you can cut the tension between Amanda and Scott with a knife, and it’s eventually Scott who has the words of wisdom when he tells Amanda to stop playing every scene (heavy double meaning) with anger. Amanda’s character (but we know it’s also Amanda) has been angry for some time, Scott tells her. “Be something else.” Amanda likes to jog, angrily, and one day Teresa (Karena Ka-Yan Lam), the bereaved mother—also jogging angrily—runs into Amanda and/or saves her life (you’ll see). The two strike up a friendship that helps them both heal, or at least gain new perspectives.
The movie faces the pain of losing a child in miscarriage. (Karena Ka-Yan Lam featured). Credits: (c) 2025 Worth The Wait Movie, LLC
“Worth the Wait” is deceptively shiny and glossy on the surface. Seattle is drenched in green and blue. Everyone looks fabulous. However, each character and each relationship is portrayed with a lot of layering and a lot of heart. The movie dares to confront the pain of miscarriage and the difficulty that families have in recovering from such a blow. And it realistically depicts what happens when the glamour of a fresh, fun fairy tale encounter starts to wear off, and Leah and Kai are suddenly struck with how far apart they really are—in ways that are not just geographical.
“No one asks someone out in real life unless they live exactly halfway around the world,” Leah says ruefully, and she’s not wrong. “Worth the Wait” is right about a lot of things.
Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.
Would it have seriously killed them to cast a fully Asian man as the lead? The movie’s not going to blow up at the box office anyway, so stop using audience appeal as a shield. The truth is, it’s too much for them to handle — their own bias, internalized or not, still won’t allow a fully Asian man to carry a story, even in an all-Asian cast.