In 1993, upcoming director Ang Lee made The Wedding Banquet, a Taiwanese comedy about a semi-closeted gay man living in New York City who orchestrates a sham marriage with a Chinese woman to appease his conservative parents.  The film grossed $7m USD in the United States, won the lucrative Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign-Language Film.  It kickstarted the career of Lee who then made a slew of great movies of which, two won him the Oscar for best director – Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi.

For Californian-born filmmaker Andrew Ahn (Fire Island), The Wedding Banquet was the first gay-themed movie he ever watched.  It’s stuck with him ever since and it led him to this English-language “reimagining” of the material.  I wouldn’t call it a remake as many details have been changed to reflect today’s 21^st Century society but its intent is the same.  Blending comedy, drama and romance, this new adaptation is designed to provide entertainment while also shining the spotlight on gay and Asian cultures.

The film is centred on two couples who live together in Seattle.  Angela (Tran) is a long-term relationship with Lee (Gladstone) and the pair are trying to have a child together utilising in vitro fertilisation (IVF).  It’s an expensive procedure and with both struggling to stay on top of their personal finances, the process starts to take a strain on their relationship.  Adding to the tension is Angela’s reluctance about whether she’s ready to be a mum.

The other couple is Chris (Yang) and Min (Gi-chan).  Min is the wealthy heir of a lucrative Korean business empire, and having just finished his studies in the United States, his grandmother (Yuh-jung) wants him to return home and help run the company.  Min envisages a different life for himself and when an insecure Chris rejects his marriage proposal, he asks Angela for a “marriage of convenience” so that he can stay in the country and appease his family in Korea.  Grandma senses something is amiss and so she jumps on the first plane to the United States…

Not every joke works but The Wedding Banquet is still a fun ride.  77-year-old Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung, who won the supporting actress Oscar in 2021 for Minari, steals every scene as the inquisitive grandmother.  She’s the most “normal” person in the film – unafraid to ask curly questions while also being a kind-hearted confidante and a shoulder to cry on.  The lead characters are a touch too over exaggerated (borderline insane at times), but the four actors infuse them with distinctive, interesting personalities. 

If looking for an off-beat romantic comedy, The Wedding Banquet should do the job.