The Wedding Banquet
Two closely-knit gay couples in Seattle struggle to find a solution to their respective dreams.
Love and other complications: Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Andrew Ahn’s film retains the title of Ang Lee's 1993 hit and duly acknowledges that film’s original screenplay as the basis of this new one. Indeed, James Schamus, who was one of the three writers involved first time around (the other two being Lee himself and Neil Peng), is again credited for the writing here but this time alongside Ahn. Nevertheless 2025’s The Wedding Banquet is far from being a remake in the real sense of the term. The desire to redo a work that has previously been enormously successful, risky though that always is, is understandable enough (proven popular appeal may well work again) but in this case there was an extra motivation involved. Lee's film featured gay characters in a tale which, as intended, worked for an audience that extended well beyond gay viewers but it reflected gay life in the 1990s and reworking the material to express how things are today is to show the degree of social change in this area over a quarter of a century later.
One of the major changes means that the story is now centred equally on a gay couple and on a lesbian couple. The latter are Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) who share a house but have let out one portion of it to the other couple They are Chris (Bowen Yang), who has known Angela since their college days, and Min (Han Gi-Chan) who is now Korean (the equivalent character in 1993 came from Taiwan). The location may have changed (it was New York City and is now Seattle) but the story that develops has always centred on an arranged marriage: originally it involved one of the gay men being encouraged by his partner to marry a bride who desires a husband in order to obtain a green card and no lesbian couple had any part to play in the tale. In contrast we now start off with an unsuccessful IVF treatment that has used up the funds of Lee and Angela leaving them unable to afford another attempt. It so happens that Min comes from a rich background (he is heir to a multinational company) and is willing to propose to Angela since his family keep expecting him to marry and this will be a step that will enable him to cover the cost of further IVF treatment while also providing Min himself with a right to a green card.
Once the marriage has been agreed The Wedding Banquet builds up the situation that has always been at the heart of it. News of the event results in the bridegroom’s family making the journey to America to be represented at the ceremony. This turns it into a big affair and also leads those involved into concealing any suggestion that anyone is other than heterosexual. However, even here there is one big alteration in that originally both parents turned up whereas now the mother, Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung from 2020’s Minari), arrives on her own. As it turns out she is perspicacious enough to realise the sexuality of those involved and quickly - and rather surprisingly - becomes understanding enough to accept it. But, since her husband is homophobic, it is decided to go ahead with a Korean style marriage of which he will see all the photographs. This will suitably mislead him about his son’s sexuality and secure Min's place as his heir.
Describing the plot makes it all sound rather contrived and unlikely – and that's even more so in this new treatment where Min’s proposal to Angela follows directly on from his proposing to Chris who dismays him by being unenthusiastic and querying his motive for it. We are soon meant to realise that, although Chris loves Min, he has a fear of commitment, a trait which disadvantages the actor Bowen Yang because it renders his character by far the least appealing of the four leads. However, all four suffer from the fact that at intervals the plot is kept going by contriving tensions that threaten to put both the gay couple and the lesbian couple at odds. Even where there is a valid issue involved (in contrast to Lee who is keen on motherhood Angela is uncertain how suited she really is to taking on a motherly role) the writing lacks the conviction that it needs. The artificiality that comes through might not matter if The Wedding Banquet functioned as a fast-moving farce but instead both versions seek to blend moments of more obvious humour with characterisations that ask for our emotional engagement.
On the comic side Ahn’s most successful addition is to give Joan Chen in the role of Angela’s mother an opportunity to find the fun in a lesbian's mother who, once hostile, is now not only supportive but positively relishes being seen as a figurehead for LGBTQ+ rights. Later on, although the specific circumstances differ, both treatments move towards dramatic territory with an unintended pregnancy. This darker material doesn't fit too well with what is largely envisaged as a rom.com but at least a 2025 setting enables this new version to avoid the mawkish stress on parenthood present in the original which played up family life as a blessing on which gays and lesbians missed out.
Some viewers will be more at ease than others with this film’s changes of tone and the way in which some parts of it are convincing and some are not. What is certain is the fact that the cast displays real skill. If Bowen Yang has more limited opportunities, there is no doubt that Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran and Han Gi-Chan all do well, although ironically their adroit handling of the more serious emotional scenes is a reminder of how much more one would have valued the film had the screenplay been more suitably balanced and with a stronger realistic core. Perhaps the player who most successfully blends these elements together is Youn Yuh-jung whose portrayal of Min's grandmother is the most adept in displaying a delightfully humorous touch while also being engagingly believable.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, Youn Yuh-jung, Bobo Le, Camille Atebe, Emma Yi, Jeffrey Liang, Françoise Yip, Marlee Walchuk, Jeremy Hoffman, Sherine Menes.
Dir Andrew Ahn, Pro Anita Gou, Joe Pirro, Caroline Clark and James Schamus, Screenplay Andrew Ahn and James Schamus, based on a screenplay by Ang Lee, Neil Peng and James Schamus, Ph Ki Jin Kim, Pro Des Charlotte Royer, Ed Geraud Brisson, Music Jay Wadley, Costumes Matthew Simonelli.
Bleecker Street/SH Pictures/Kindred Spirit/Symbolic Exchange/Scythia Films-Universal Pictures.
102 mins. USA. 2025. US Rel: 18 April 2025. UK Rel: 9 May 2025. Cert. 15.
