The balancing act needed for an ensemble cast is hard to master. Characters risk remaining unexplored in the midst of a race to bind story threads before the curtain falls. It’s a high-skill endeavor and, sadly, Worth the Wait stumbles at every hurdle.
Worth the Wait Story
Screen time is shared between four Asian-American couples. Kai (Ross Butler) and Leah (Lana Condor) meet in an ER. Leah is a nurse and Kai is on a short business trip from Malaysia.
Blake (Ricky He) and Riley (Ali Funiko Whitney) are in love and about to graduate high school. Riley hides her relationship from her over-protective uncle and guardian (Sung Kang). Amanda (Elodie Yung) and Scott (Andrew Koji) are respectively a movie star and a director.
They were once in a long-term relationship that ended badly and are now working together on a new film. Teresa (Karena Kar-Yan Lam) and Nathan (Osric Chau) are married and suffer the loss of their firstborn in the delivery room. Teresa’s mother (Kheng Hua Tan) is a house guest who doesn’t want to leave.
The Strands
Each story strand is plagued with plot holes.
Kai and Leah profess they love each other but stay permanently apart. Kai is wealthy and everyone takes vacations so why hasn’t he hopped on a plane to visit his amour?
Riley is 18 and afraid to tell her uncle that she has a boyfriend. This would make sense if she was 14, but at 18, it feels more like an obstacle that has been grabbed from thin air.
When Amanda attends a rehearsal, Scott, for no reason, makes her do the same scene 22 times. Stars are protected and someone would have stopped the madness before it hit double digits.
In a different world, the story of Teresa and Nathan stands compelling and true. But it’s a tragic tale and jarringly out of place in a film that lives in the frivolous will-she-won’t-he genre.
Act III
With such shaky foundations, the third act becomes the truthsayer.
The moment of decision for Kai is when Leah posts a video online, even though the video subject has barely been mentioned before. Blake decides that the answer to his life problem is to find a father-figure, which has zero to do with his relationship with Riley. Amanda injures herself while doing a stunt that somehow gives her clarity about what to do with Scott.
Saying Goodbye
Teresa’s resolution is also a physical one that wraps up her world while conveniently herding some of the cast to the same place. It’s a cheesy and contrived feel-good farewell, so if that’s what the filmmakers were going for, objective achieved.
But what can’t be justified is the film’s poster and title. The poster features some actors twice and others not at all. The title applies to one of the couples but is anathema to the rest. How could the filmmakers get so much wrong?
Director Tom Lin
Produced by King Street Pictures
Distributed by Tubi
Watch the Worth the Wait Trailer
About Sang Kung
Kang’s first major role was in Better Luck Tomorrow (2002), directed by Justin Lin, in which he played Han Lue, an aloof gang member. He was one of the stars in The Motel, in which he played Sam Kim.
Kang reprised his role as Han Lue in the Fast & Furious franchise, first appearing in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Lin’s second movie. Kang’s role in Tokyo Drift was originally written as a one-off character As production progressed, Lin expanded Han to a significant supporting character who proved “emotionally affecting” and provided “a more delicate touch than the Fast movies had seen before, or since”. An unexpected fan favorite, Kang was brought back to the Fast & Furious franchise by Lin, appearing in Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6
