How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024) Review: Thailand's Pan-Asian Tearjerker

Is How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies worth watching?

Yes — the title is clickbait; the film is devastating. How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies holds a 92% Critic Score, 94% Audience Score, 78 Metascore, 4.2 on Letterboxd, and 8.2 on IMDb. Pat Boonnitipat’s pan-Asian hit turned elder-care guilt into event cinema from Bangkok to Taipei, with Putthipong Assaratanakul and Usha Seamkhum delivering performances critics called the year’s most honest family portrait.

What is the film about?

A grandson quits his dead-end job to care for his terminally ill grandmother — partly from love, partly because her will may leave him the family home. The premise sounds mercenary; the execution is tender. M, played by Putthipong, learns recipes, hears wartime stories, and confronts how he arrived late to a relationship he treated as transactional. Usha Seamkhum’s Amah never becomes a saint — she is stubborn, funny, and financially shrewd.

Should you watch it after Bad Genius?

Absolutely — Chutimon bookends Thailand’s decade in Bad Genius and Hunger; Putthipong owns the emotional center here. Pair with Nattawut Poonpiriya’s Bad Genius for class anxiety at school age versus retirement age. Compare with Mae Cruz-Alviar’s Rewind from the Philippines — another time-and-family weepie that dominated domestic box office.

How does Pat Boonnitipat balance comedy and grief?

By letting awkwardness live in the same frame as death — lottery jokes, hospital food, cousins circling the will like vultures. Boonnitipat refuses to punish M for his initial selfishness; the film’s arc is learning that showing up changes what inheritance means. Marcus Webb’s read: the blunt title is a shield — viewers who expect cynicism receive sincerity instead.

Where does it rank on Best of Asia 2016–2026?

Among the decade’s biggest cross-border word-of-mouth hits — proof Thai drama can travel without fantasy hooks or horror packaging. On Best of Asia 2016–2026 it sits beside Trấn Thành’s Mai from Vietnam as working-class romance that broke national records. Netflix streams globally; IMDb tt28477877.

Who needs tissues for this film?

Everyone — but especially viewers estranged from grandparents, anyone who has calculated care against inheritance, and families who communicate love through food rather than words. The mahjong scenes and market runs are where the film breathes; do not skip them for plot.

Who needs this film most?

Adult grandchildren negotiating care responsibilities; viewers who responded to Minari or The Farewell; anyone skeptical of blunt titles who keeps being surprised by sincere execution. The mahjong table scenes and market runs are not filler — they are where Amah and M communicate what neither can say directly. Watch with family if your relationships can survive honest conversation afterward. IMDb tt28477877 on Netflix globally.

Verdict

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is the rare title that delivers on its promise and then breaks your heart anyway — Marcus Webb’s pick for Thailand’s most humane export of 2024. Call your grandmother after credits. Browse Thailand and map peers at Best of Asia 2016–2026.