Viewers are faced with this question right from the opening moments of “Beef,” putting us squarely in the perspective of Yeun’s Danny Cho and immediately setting the tone for the steadily simmering cauldron of frustration to come. Weighed in on his perception that there is always something Just waiting in the wings to destroy his every plan, Danny is drowning in serious financial trouble (mostly of his own doing) and at the end of his rope. By sheer happenstance, a struggling handyman finds the perfect outlet for his frustrations when he accidentally backs into the path of an oncoming SUV outside a department store… and is immediately met with a nasty, lingering drunk and a middle finger from another angry driver. window, in good scale.
If Yeun has never looked as desperate, burning and impotently angry as she does here, Wong is practically a revelation to fans who only know her from various stand-up comedy specials or the Netflix rom-com “Always Be My Maybe.” .” After a startlingly tense (yet dryly funny) car chase, the deceptively diminutive Wong takes over the proceedings through charisma. In no time, he almost effortlessly convinces us that Amy Lau, a wealthy businesswoman looking to make a wildly lucrative deal to sell her company, can collapse just as violently like Danny.
Despite his charmed life, the fractures show easily. In addition to all the microaggressions that women of color (especially those of Asian descent) know all too well, she must deal with her well-meaning but indifferent husband George (Joseph Lee), her headstrong young daughter June (Remy Holt), her domineering mother-in-law Fumi (Patti Yasutake, who sinks her teeth into the stereotype of the role) and a precarious business deal with the insufferably and incredibly rich Jordan Forster (Maria Bello) that could fall apart. with even the slightest mistake.
And with every step, “Beef” turns the screws on Danny and Amy, juxtaposing their parallel journeys with each other and pushing them further to the brink.