AllMovie

This is a successful (if, at times, strenuously overstated) adaptation of Amy Tan's celebrated novel chronicling the generations of a family of Chinese women. Wayne Wang's tasteful direction goes a long way in providing interesting focal points for the viewer, and despite eight interweaving storylines, the film is never confusing or disjointed. One of the rare American movies of the 1990s that has a virtually across-the-board Asian cast, the actors all turn in strong performances, sometimes admirably eschewing the histrionics provided by the script, which occasionally feels diagrammed to give the actresses "big scenes." Not every story is equally gripping, and the pace lags at intervals, but the sentimental nature of The Joy Luck Club is eventually earned, and Tan's unerringly precise source-material gives it a much-deserved grace. A crossover hit at the box office, the film oddly failed to receive any Academy Award nominations for the year it was released, despite wide predictions that it was a sure Oscar candidate.