LORELAI: They’re here.
RORY: Who?
LORELAI: The Joy-less Luck Club.
Lorelai references the 1993 drama film, The Joy Luck Club, directed by Wayne Wang, and based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Amy Tan, who co-wrote the screenplay. The film is about a group of older Chinese-American women in San Francisco, all with adult daughters, who meet regularly to play mah-jong. The stories they tell each other reveals their hidden pasts, and how their family dynamics have been shaped by the interplay of Chinese and American culture.
The film was financially successful, and praised by critics for its diverse and nuanced portrayals of the experiences of Chinese-American women. It was only the second Hollywood film to have an all-Asian main cast; the first was Flower Drum Song, in 1961.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 