Yahoo Lifestyle ‘The Wedding Banquet’ Review: Modern Reimagining of Queer Classic Mostly Finds Its Own Way With Funny New Guests
When Ang Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet” was released back in 1993, the AIDS epidemic was still taking lives, marriage equality in the U.S. was decades away and queer representation in media remained limited, even if strides had been made. It was certainly a different time. Considering the progress obtained since — while not forgetting the perpetual fight to protect LGBT community from incessant attacks — Andrew Ahn’s consistently amusing and winningly sincere reimagining of the classic for a 2025 audience finds the queer community in a dramatically improved place.
For starters, the characters in this new iteration can legally marry and become parents if they wish, which means conflict has to operate differently. The pressure of societal norms hasn’t entirely disappeared, but the interpersonal squabbles of the quartet here (rather than the trio in Lee’s film) take precedence.
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After a second unsuccessful IVF treatment, Seattle lesbian couple Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and her partner Lee (Lily Gladstone), who would have carried the pregnancy, hit a wall as to how to proceed with their relationship. Financially, they can’t afford to keep trying, and the prospect of another disappointment hurts too much.
Their best friends and housemates Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan) also find themselves at a crossroads. The heir to a Korean multinational, Min wants to marry commitment-adverse Chris, which would also help him secure a green card, but if his family in Korea discovers he’s gay, he’ll lose his fortune. Marriage fraud is, obviously, the perfect solution. If Angela marries Min, the latter will pay for further IVF treatment. He can get stay in the country and appease his grandma (played by the perennially affecting Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung).
Ahn’s collaboration with James Schamus, who co-wrote the ‘90s original with Lee and Neil Peng, keeps the essence of its predecessor while shifting the focus to women. While occasionally heavy on exposition, memorable dialogue thrives via the actors’ convincingly comfortable banter. The overall tone of the performances and production value in some of the celebration sequences (at a bar or a drag performance) aligns closer to what one expects from studio projects as opposed to the strict naturalism of Ahn’s smaller features.
It’s particularly refreshing to see Gladstone in lighter fare that still offers scenes that benefit from her inherent gravitas, yet it’s a moving Tran who carries the biggest emotional load as Angela doubts her motherly potential. Meanwhile, Yang, who’s had a prolific few years, continues to showcase his more solemn side. Paired with a delightfully exasperated Han, his arguments render some of the biggest laughs.
The work production designer Charlotte Royer did in creating Angela and Lee’s home gets the spotlight in a scene where the group of queer millennials must hide any items in the property that might tip Min’s grandmother, who’s coming to visit, about her future daughter-in-law being a lesbian: photos, their DVD collection, books, paintings and even clothing are put in the shed that Chris and Min share — these items that externalize and validate their identity are shoved back into a closet. Upon arrival, the matriarch demands the “couple” has a traditional Korean wedding to legitimize their union to relatives back home. Youn’s character in “The Wedding Banquet” differs from the grandmother in “Minari” in that this new role requires layers of distrust and regret. But she remains a scene-stealer.
Another way in which Ahn’s version takes a page from its source can be seen in how it derives plenty of humor from culture clash. For Min’s grandmother, some Americans’ acceptance of LGBT people seems utterly shocking. It’s a reminder that the rights currently threatened in this country are still not a reality everywhere in the world, either legally or in terms of social acceptance.
As effective as the chemistry is between the four main actors, “The Wedding Banquet” is at its most engaging when dealing with the older characters’ respective journeys to rid themselves of prejudices. The extraordinary Joan Chen plays Angela’s mother, who overcompensates for her initial rejection of her daughter’s sexual orientation by becoming a staunch ally, while Youn is a woman caught between her genuine desire to embrace her grandson and the disapproval of her husband (a union arranged by her parents).
If there’s a complaint to be had, it’s that a 2025 version of “The Wedding Banquet” could have pushed further into daring territory with its comedy or even with the outcome of the entanglement the characters get themselves into. As it stands, however, without raunchiness and a focus on understanding and forgiveness, it’s likely to feel much more accessible to a wider audience.
A talented and versatile storyteller, Ahn has successfully forged a career making both indie productions (“Spa Night” and “Driveways”) and bigger, broader fare (“Fire Island”). “The Wedding Banquet” fits in the latter category, but some of the quiet introspection from his earlier work still finds its way in here. Whichever way Ahn continues to find avenues to make entertainment organically laced with topicality is surely welcomed.
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