Movie Review: THE WEDDING BANQUET

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 18th, 2025 / 04:13 PM

Rating: R
Stars: Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, Youn Yuh-Jung, Bobo Lee
Writers: Andrew Ahn and James Schamus, based on the screenplay by Ang Lee & Neil Peng and James Schamus
Director: Andrew Ahn
Distributor: Bleecker Street
Release Date: April 18, 2025

He’s gay. She’s a lesbian. He needs a green card. She needs IVF for her partner. They think they’ll have a small wedding to make it legal – and then his family gets involved.

So goes the remake of THE WEDDING BANQUET. The first version, made in 1993, was directed by Ang Lee and scripted by Lee & Neil Peng and James Schamus. In the original, the bride was the one who needed a green card, and she wasn’t a lesbian.

There are other major differences between that first film and the new edition of THE WEDDING BANQUET, directed by Andrew Ahn and written by Ahn and Schamus. Here, while most of the main characters are Asian or Asian-American, and dealing with parents and grandparents is still certainly part of the framework, the focus is much more on the groom and bride and their respective partners.

Ecological scientist Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and her longtime partner, lesbian activist Lee (Lily Gladstone), live together in the rambling Seattle house that Lee inherited from her father. Angela’s best friend from college, artist and grad school avoider Chris (Bowen Yang), and his partner, artist and Korean corporate heir Min (Han Gi-Chan), live together in Angela and Lee’s converted garage.

Lee is trying to get pregnant via IVF and is devastated when the second attempt doesn’t work. She and Angela aren’t sure if they have the money to try again.

At the same time, Min’s grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jong) contacts him in a video call and announces that his grandfather, who runs the corporation, is insisting that Min return to Korea and take over the family business.

Min has no intention of doing this, even at the cost of losing his inheritance. He wants to continue to work on his art and remain with Chris. So, he proposes, but Chris (for a variety of reasons) refuses.

So, in order to get a green card and convince his grandparents that he’s in America for a reason they’ll accept, Min proposes to Angela. As an incentive, he offers to pay for another round of IVF for Lee.

Everybody except Min is thrown by this, including Angela’s mom May (Joan Chen), who has become a star in the (real) organization Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, aka P-FLAG, and is flummoxed by the idea of her daughter marrying a man.

Then Ja-Young comes over, sans Min’s grandfather, to meet his fiancée, and things become much more complicated – but not in ways we necessarily expect.

THE WEDDING BANQUET has charm to spare, with its appealing cast and sweet-natured characters (even if Angela is cranky and Chris is so averse to commitment that we want to slap him sometimes). Youn as the no-nonsense Ja-Young is incredibly effective, and Chen has a ball with her somewhat narcissistic but supportive parent.

Korean and Chinese-American (and indigenous American) culture is observed and encompassed without being “othered.” Barring a few details, including one that shows up as the obligatory romcom finale grand gesture, these people could be from any set of ethnic groups, which is part of the point – why shouldn’t they be in the spotlight here?

The dialogue is usually hilarious and the actors are all topnotch. Even though Min is written to be a bit saintly, Han plays him as someone who is believably sincere.

There is a quality akin to a Shakespearean comedy in THE WEDDING BANQUET. There aren’t mistaken identities, but there are a lot of preconceptions and misunderstood motives causing everyone to dash this way and that before the clarifying resolution.

THE WEDDING BANQUET deserves to be seen for its celebratory tone, its fine acting – and because it’s really funny.

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