Making a successful remake can be a daunting challenge. Especially when it has had a profound cultural impact, such as Ang Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet.” The fight for marriage equality is the beating heart of the tale of queer love within the Asian community. Since it’s been over 30 years since the original’s release, “Fire Island” director Andrew Ahn, who uses a script written by himself and James Schamus – who wrote the original – delivers a film that is more of a refreshing update for a new generation that is far more reflective of the world that we live in today than it is a shot-for-shot remake.
“The Wedding Banquet” centers around two couples. There’s Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone), a lesbian couple trying to make a family through IVF. And then there’s Min (Han Gi-chan) and Chris (Bowen Yang), a gay couple who’s been in a relationship for five years with the latter being unable to commit to a marriage not because of being afraid of being tied down but what a marriage would do to Min because Min’s family disapproves of the LGBTQ+ community. To further complicate things, Min’s green card is about to expire. On top of that, his grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) wants him to return to take over the family business. Though the South Korean community has become more progressive when it comes to accepting homosexuality, Min’s family isn’t too receptive.
So, in an effort to extend his green card and help Angela and Lee create the family they’ve always wanted after their second IVF treatment failed, Min proposes to Angela. The plan for a sham wedding may initially sound simple, but it gets complicated when Min’s grandmother wants to visit the fake happy couple in Seattle and throw a lavish wedding for both of them. Adding to the complexity is Angela’s mother (Joan Chen), a champion of support for the gay and lesbian community who often overcompensates because she finds herself between embracing the cause and accepting her daughter’s sexual identity. The two couples demand that Angela’s mother take down her entire social media so that Min’s grandmother and the family company don’t discover Min’s marriage is a sham. The couples even go as far as de-queering the house by removing anything – like books, artwork, and attire – that might be perceived as gay.
Eventually, things get complicated for everyone involved as they try to sell this big lie. Angela is tired of these failed IVFs, and instead of going through the trauma all over again, she would rather use Min’s money to travel the world. It’s an idea that Lee, who has always wanted to be a mother, immediately rejects. Chris is concerned about what the sham wedding could do to Min’s family. When Chris and Angela reach their breaking point, they turn to each other for emotional support, which then turns out to be a drunken mistake that leads to more complications.
While we can expect many comedy of errors to occur when trying to have a fake wedding, the film reveals much more about the couple’s relationships and family dynamics.
“The Wedding Banquet” needed a few updates since there is a significant 30+ year gap between the Ang Lee original and Andrew Ahn’s vision. Most notable is that America – or at least some parts of it – has become more tolerant of the LGBTQ+ community, so having a wedding isn’t the only challenge for our characters. The issues of green cards and Lee’s struggle with IVF treatments make the film in touch with the world we live in today.
Anh’s film may be a remake, but the film is more like a generational sister update. It takes after the same humor and drama that the original has and then modernizes it, making it more relatable to the current audience. Anh and Schamus’ script can focus on telling a queer story without having to be concerned with hyperbolizing certain stereotypes or spotlighting social expectations. As such, the cast can deliver a genuine performance. The actors bouncing off each other with their banter provides plenty of laughs, but how they become closer as a family is a joy to watch on screen.
Only when these characters are forced to confront the reality of the situation and certain regrettable decisions does the film hit an emotional high point. Min and Angela’s parents – embrace their identity, recognize their needs, and see their faults and shortcomings. Angela’s mom may be a champion of the LGBTQ+ community, but her desire to be in the spotlight undermines her ability to accept or support her daughter’s sexual identity fully. As such, the two had an unspoken conflict that didn’t take shape until the film’s recent turn of events.
The script balances light-hearted banter with serious discussions about love, family, belonging, and personal sacrifice. Even if some circumstances lead the characters to unfortunate situations, the cast grounds the film with a sense of reality, which helps make the events relatable or at least believable. Even when some situations reach comically impossible levels, they lead to some critical moments with significant emotional payoffs between other characters, particularly the ones between Angela and her mom and Min and her grandmother.
The matriarchs have their own degrees of reluctance to their child and grandchild’s sexual identity, with the former having a hard time understanding it at first but then growing to accept it in ways that are overcompensating, while the latter still abides by archaic societal expectations. These ideologies and views represent the generational gaps between family obligations and traditional love. As such, Angela grows to resent her mother because that undying support is more about being in the spotlight than truly understanding her daughter, while Min feels trapped by his family’s rigid beliefs, his grandmother prioritizing family legacy, and societal norms.
The sudden realization comes through in a powerful moment where they find out they need each other more than they realize. Angela’s mom admits to her shortcomings and is honest about learning so much from her daughter. Min’s grandmother wants to ensure the family legacy is intact while staying true to their beliefs, but she finds out that her grandson wants a family that truly accepts him for who he is. It’s an emotional moment that allows us to see them connect in ways that transcend the traditional sense of love between mother and child. It also proves why Youn and Chen are outstanding actors.
Then there’s Yang, who shows us how much range he has as an actor. Chris isn’t so much afraid of commitment as he is responsible for Min losing his family because he didn’t come out to them. When the couple reaches their breaking point, Chris can turn to his cousin, Kendall (Bobo Lee), for emotional support. But even with the reassurances that Min will forever be committed to Chris, Chris can’t bear the fact that Min stands to lose everything. Meanwhile, Han Gi-chan brings as much emotional depth to the film as Kelly Marie Tran. Min is as vulnerable as Angela, even if the stakes differ slightly.
With Angela and Lee, the lesbian couple at the center of the film, they have to navigate the struggles of the thought of another IVF treatment failure. Angela is deeply invested in becoming a mother but becomes colder and more distant after Lee’s second attempt doesn’t take. That’s in direct contrast to Lee, who is more committed to the idea of childbirth and scoffs at the idea that Angela would even entertain the thought of using Min’s money to travel instead of continuing their efforts to have a child. When the tensions reach an emotional breaking point, Angela can turn to Chris. In contrast, Lee justifiably disappears – although taking her off screen like that seems like more of a disservice to Gladstone’s performance abilities and the character’s arc.
For his part, Ahn balances telling a story about a gay and lesbian couple trying to find genuine acceptance from their respective families by representing Chinese and Korean cultures. The cultural aspect comes through subtitles, a drag Chinese New Year celebration with lion dancers, and the Korean ceremonial wedding. However, “The Wedding Banquet” doesn’t lament much about that, as it is far more concerned with addressing the generational divide and breaking down outdated social norms. As such, the film spotlights modern Asian queer couples, who are often faced with more significant challenges due to societal norms but are a lot like us when it comes to dealing with finding love and confronting the generational divide.
9/10
The Wedding Banquet is in theaters April 18, 2025.
