This trendy remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 original is billed as a romantic comedy, but it felt more like a drama to me. It was beautifully-shot and acted, but it fell short of humor and felt a bit terse and heavy at times. Still, one does root for these couples and the film has a lovely and satisfying resolution.

 

Set in Seattle, The Wedding Banquet opens on a somewhat chaotic performance by members of the LGBTQ+ AAPI community doing a combination drag show and lion dance. We meet Angela (played by Kelly Marie Tran), her partner Lee (the talented Lily Gladstone) and Angela’s gungho mother, portrayed in a standout performance by Joan Chen.

 

Next, we meet Chris, (Bowen Yang, excellent in a rare non-comedic role), his partner Min (Han Gi-Chan) and Chris’ cousin who is played by… I can’t even remember at this point, I’m sorry, but wow this is a lot of characters. There’s also Min’s grandmother from Korea, played by Youn Juh-jung, whom we meet first over video call and then in person when she arrives to reign over the wedding.

Yes, there’s a wedding here - but it’s a convoluted path to the altar. You see Angela and Lee are a couple, even undergoing IVF to have a baby. And Chris and Min are a couple, yet when Min proposes to Chris, he initially says no. But Min needs to get married for a green card, because his visa is expiring and he does not want to move back to Korea. Also, Min’s family is very wealthy. And IVF is super expensive.

 

Are you catching onto all this quicker than I did? The two couples are close friends - so close that Chris and Angela actually hooked up back in their college freshman days - and the guys live in the girls’ converted garage guest house. That, knowing how expensive Seattle is these days, was the most realistic part of the movie for me. The ways these two couples intricately interrelate, however, was the opposite.

 

Dealing with issues related to queer and cultural identities as well as family obligations and responsibilities, there is a lot here to parse through. The Wedding Banquet may have been intended as a romcom, but it does not feel that way at all as a viewer. 

 

A huge highlight for me were the performances of the two matriarchs - Min’s grandmother and Angela’s mother. I wish they could have had more screen time, because these two elegant ladies lit up the screen every time they were on it.

 

In the end, conflicts and family drama are resolved, couples reunite and there are even more characters to meet - but in a good way. This being a remake of an Ang Lee film, I expected it to be gorgeously and artfully shot, and it was. I just think it was also a bit long and slow-moving. 

 

Still, wait until close to the end for one of the most beautiful silent, non-verbal conversations ever captured on film; it is a true tribute to the acting abilities of Gladstone and Tran. It moved me to tears.

 

The Wedding Banquet will appeal to those in the queer and Asian American communities, anyone well versed in multi-cultural family drama and those who love complicated romances.