The Wedding Banquet Movie Review (2025)
A delightful comedy about two couples trying to help each other, The Wedding Banquet is a welcome addition to the complicated relationships genre. I’m totally here for it.
A chosen family is a very valuable thing. We aren’t always born into a family that sees us for who we are or knows how we need to be loved, so making those connections with a small community that becomes your family can be absolutely invaluable.
The Wedding Banquet is a story about two couples who are the best of friends, Angela and Lee, and Chris and Min. Lee’s dream is to get pregnant and start a family with her girlfriend. Min’s family doesn’t talk about the fact that he is gay, but are insisting that he stops doing his art and join the family business, based out of Korea. Chris’s commitment issues keep him from marrying Min, so the friends cook up a plan for Min to marry Angela, and he will in turn provide family money so that the women can try IVF one more time. This would have been easy, but when Min’s Korean grandma finds out about the engagement, she insists on a large and traditional Korean ceremony.
This is a very sweet and funny film. After seeing the preview in theaters, I was a little worried that it would fall into the silly realm or that all of the best parts would have been aired in the preview, but that wasn’t the case.
Bowen Yang, Han Gi-Chan, Kelly Marie Tran, and Lily Gladstone are all loveable and endearing as the two couples. Their characters are not perfect people, but they are there for each other in ways that others haven’t been and their bonds are incredibly special.
Joan Chen (from Didi – love her!) and Youn Yuh-jung (from Minari – love her!) play the mother of Angela and the grandmother of Min, respectively. Each takes a very different path in respect to their family member, but things end up in a truly lovely place. These actors also do an excellent job of conveying the subtleties of their characters as they struggle with their own histories and cultural expectations.
This movie moves past just the basic plot (which is complicated enough) and touches on a lot of issues that I found welcome and unexpected. The fears of being a bad parent because you never connected with yours, asking for validation after years of stewing in discomfort, and the observation that other people accept their children for who they are, so why don’t you?
The Wedding Banquet is a remake of the 1993 film of the same name, written and directed by Ang Lee. I recall that movie being funny and light, but this movie has significantly more complication and heart. I found myself secretly rooting for everyone instead of just letting things play out. And while I, of course, could never change what is going to happen in the film, the fact that I was invested lets me know that I really enjoyed myself. I think you will too.
Runtime: 103 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: R
Languages Spoken In The Film: English and Korean with English subtitles
Should You Watch It? Yes
Did I Cry? Yes, I got choked up
My Rating: 3.75/5 Stars
Available: Currently in movie theaters
