In 1993, pre-'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' director Ang Lee would release his second film, 'The Wedding Banquet'. The film was not only groundbreaking for its depiction of gay relationships, but being about a gay man with a Taiwanese background. The film was a critical and commercial success, winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, it was nominated at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards, and grossed US$23 million from a budget of US$1 million. Now in 2025, and after directing the queer hit 'Fire Island', Andrew Ahn is bringing this classic story into the modern era.
SWITCH: 'THE WEDDING BANQUET' TRAILER
'The Wedding Banquet' follows two couples - Chris (Bowen Yang, 'Wicked', 'The Garfield Movie') and Min (Han Gi-Chan, in his feature film debut), and Lee (Lily Gladstone, 'Killers of the Flower Moon') and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran, 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi', 'Raya and the Last Dragon'), who all live together. Chris and Lee have been friends since college, Lee and Angela are attempting IVF, while Min is about to have his student visa expire and is yet to come out to his family due to his homophobic grandfather, fearing that doing so will cause him to be financially cut off. Min and Lee come up with the idea for Min to marry Angela, allowing him to stay in the United States and in turn he will pay for their IVF. This quick engagement raises the eyebrows of his Min's grandmother, Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung, 'Minari'), who flies to the U.S. - so now instead of eloping, a full traditional Korean wedding has to take place!
‘The Wedding Banquet’ doesn’t completely score like one would hope with this cast and crew, but it’s still a fun watch.
'The Wedding Banquet' doesn't completely score like one would hope with this cast and crew, but it's still a fun watch. Everyone on-screen is offering stellar performances, but the script doesn't push this story far enough. A lot of the cultural divide plot points are very surface level, the cast feel largely distant from each other for a lot of the run time, and while it has great emotional moments they feel unearned as the story has clunky pacing.
I do like some of the modern elements of this remake - having two queer couples, plus Min's grandmother is immediately understanding of why he hasn't come out so helps with keeping his secret, and the IVF subplot is a welcomed addition. There are also some really touching moments with both Ja-Young and Angela's mother May Chen (Joan Chen, 'Twin Peaks') that really hit emotionally. Han Gi-chan is phenomenal in his first feature film role and really grounds the film. Yet you still have things like Lily Gladstone being criminally underused and missing from large chunks of the film. Kelly Marie Tran and Bowen Yang - both actors I love - have their characters teeter between being unredeemable and just comedic relief. There is a lot to love in this film; it was very enjoyable, but it sometimes goes for being crowd-pleasing over being a complete film.
'The Wedding Banquet' updates its story for 2025 and has some decent moments of laughs and pulling at your heartstrings - however, it is a bumpy road to get there. This isn't a flawless film and feels like it could have had another pass of the script to make it tighter and more impactful.
