Charming and witty, The Wedding Banquet (2025) is a romantic comedy about two couples and friends who are attempting to take their relationship to the next level, but they hit many roadblocks along the way. No doubt they have a strong love for their spouse, and everyone is happily and genuinely in love with their romantic partner. There are outside challenges both couples endure that bring complications to their relationships. The two couples in the film that are the central characters are undeniably likable. We are introduced to Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), who lives with her partner, Lee (Lily Gladstone), in a cozy home in Seattle, in which Angela’s mother, May (Joan Chen), is a member of Seattle’s PFLAG organization. We are also introduced to Chris (Bowen Yang), Angela’s best friend since college, who also lives in Lee’s cottage with his longtime boyfriend Min (Han Gi-chan), a Korean artist whose visa is set to expire. Min gets pressured by his wealthy grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung) on a Zoom meeting to return to South Korea to take over the family business.
Meanwhile, Lee wants to become a mother, and while on her second round of IVF, the pregnancy is unsuccessful, leaving Lee uncertain if they can afford another trial. She suggests that Angela carry the child and take the next IVF trial, while Angela prefers to recover and attempt to enjoy life. They end up walking into an argument with Min and Chris, in which Min proposes to Chris, but Chris holds his reservations since Min is still closeted to his family and is petrified by Ja-Young, who comes off as very homophobic. Min knows that he will be disowned and cut off from his family if they find out he is gay, and Chris feels like the proposal isn’t genuine due to the visa set to expire. The complications escalate, and you get really involved with the human drama across the board. Both Angela and Lee are smart and talented people who have dreams of fostering their relationship, but the pregnancy complications bring an excessive overbearingness that tests their relationship. Both women are deeply in love and have dreams of traveling the world, but they also want to build a family.
The Wedding Banquet is co-written and directed by Andrew Ahn, who directed the Hulu streaming hit gay-rom-com feature Fire Island (2022). Here, with his very seasoned cast, he hits every narrative beat, and every character and performance shines, making you really empathize with the characters in very affecting ways. While the film is based on Ang Lee’s beloved 1993 indie classic of the same name, luckily the film stands on its own, where it’s far from a rehash and modernizes the material. Oddly, there isn’t actually a lavish wedding banquet scene where most of the film takes place at Angela and Lee’s home, in the outhouse, smaller gatherings, and at night clubs. If the film were titled differently, one would just call it more of an inspiration than a “remake.” Regardless, it all works, and it’s fantastic seeing Lee’s legacy live on.
Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marier Tran, and Bowen Yang, who have all been in a lot of films (both big and small), all bring a due diligence to their roles and characters that is serviceable to the original material. Each of them is endearing and complex, which brings great empathy and insights into what gay and lesbian couples go through while expressing their real feelings for one another. Ahn is very open and direct with his material, as he was with Fire Island, and so it’s intriguing to see how he took a classic film of 32 years ago and was able to modernize it with such a pristine sensibility that creates a sense of family. The last image of the film reassures this.
THE WEDDING BANQUET IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS
Looks interesting!
Remakes of classics are always a risky business. Glad to see this one is at least not horrible.
Appreciate it for helping out, good information.