A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Wedding Banquet” (2025, 3.5*, 15).
Remaking Ang Lee’s film from 1993, this version of “The Wedding Banquet” moves the action from New York to Seattle and adds further complexity to the basic premise with a strong IVF theme and multi-cultural (Taiwanese/Chinese) relationships. Now I’m sure I’ve seen the original at some point, but completely forgotten how I felt about it. But I was impressed with Andrew Ahn’s makeover. Even seeing it on a tiny little British Airways inflight screen, it still delivered a lot of heart and some great lines.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Two gay couples – Min (Han Gi-Chan) and Chris (Bowen Yang) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) – live in Seattle and are good friends. Min has not come out to his grandparents back in South Korea for fear of losing his inheritance to their multi-million dollar empire. But he is expected to marry or else return to Korea. He comes up with the scheme of a sham marriage to US citizen Angela in order to give himself more time in the States.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, Youn Yuh-jung, Bobo Le.
Directed by: Andrew Ahn.
Written by: Andrew Ahn & James Schamus. (Based on the original screenplay by Ang Lee, Neil Peng & James Schamus.)
Running Time: 1h 43m.
Summary:
Positives:
- Sharp and witty dialogue.
- The film has a feelgood vibe to it.
- Great music.
Negatives:
- The ending is kind-of predictable (but still good).
- Chris is such an irritating character!
Full Review of “The Wedding Banquet”:
A classy script.
The script by Andrew Ahn & James Schamus zips along nicely, extending Ang Lee’s original script with a nice angle on the lengths that same sex couples will go to to have children through IVF. This adds warmth and real humanity to the story. The film also creates an interesting multi-ethnic dynamic by mixing Korean Min with Andrew’s Chinese American and Chinese American Angela with Native American Lee.
The script also delivered some really witty lines, some of which point fun at the American way of life from a Chinese/Korean viewpoint. Angela’s mother May (Joan Chen) is described at one point as being “not insane… just American!” and in summarising the American obsession with self-analysis, Min comments to Ja-young (Youn Yuh-jung) that “Americans like to sit in circles and laugh and cry”.
Much of the comedy is exploited from the fact that Min has not come out to his Korean family and the crux of the matter is that his grandfather is described as “the biggest gay-hater in Korea”! If Min doesn’t do something he will be sent back to Korea and away from Chris, the man he loves. But if his grandfather finds out his secret, he will be disowned and lose a fortune in inheritance.
Real friends.
Where the film succeeds is in painting the four leads as real friends. From the first raucous scenes in a gay bar, these characters all feel ‘real’ and that they have been close friends for many years. This is essential else the ‘indecent proposal’ would be rejected out of hand.
The film also neatly paints that the characters had an interesting past. It turns out that Chris and Angela once slept together in fresher’s week at college: a fact that becomes very relevant later in the film. (I’m not sure what the LGBTQ+ community would make of this: is this sort of experimentation and occasional ‘cross-border’ dalliance accepted or seen as a weakness of gender identity?)
A good ensemble cast.
All four leads – Bowen Yang (“Wicked“), Lily Gladstone (Oscar-nominated for “Killers of the Flower Moon“), Kelly Marie Tran (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi“) and relative newcomer Han Gi-Chan are personable and do well.
But the acting catch here is Youn Yuh-jung playing the part of the grandmother, who steals every scene she is in. The 78-year-old Youn of course won the Oscar for her role in “Minari” and here again she delivers very good value.
While not a problem with the actor (Bowen Yang), I did find myself getting increasingly stressed about the character of Chris, who is written as such an indecisive and vacillating way I just wanted to get up into the screen and give him a good shake!
Feelgood film.
While the story was fairly predictable in how it would go (and I predicted correctly), the feelgood arc that got me there was a fun one. This is a film I found very difficult to dislike and the ending is actually very moving indeed.
Great music.
A final shout out to the composer Jay Wadley, since I really enjoyed the music score to this one.
Summary Thoughts:
A really nice feelgood movie that makes me want to go back and compare it with Ang Lee’s original. Very much recommended.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWy_IzW04YM.
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