OK - I've just read the article on this. Now I remember. The film to my mind is very clearly not approving of that guy's attitude to the Asian woman (his wife in the film, from memory). Indeed, we are laughing at him, because his racism is embarrassing. I found that pretty clear myself. There's a big difference between depicting something and endorsing something. Here in the UK we have lots of comedy that pokes similar fun at racism where the joke is emphatically on the racists (in Ricky Gervais's Extras, for instance, which has an excruciatingly hilarious episode featuring Samuel L Jackson).