The Wedding ceremony Banquet (2025)
Launch Date: April 18, 2025
Directed By: Andrew Ahn
Written By: Andrew Ahn & James Schamus
Starring: Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Joan Chen, Youn Youh-Jong
Score: R for language and a few sexual materials/nudity
Runtime: 102 minutes
Keep in mind what romantic comedies was once? I really like a comfy, sit-on-the-couch Netflix rom-com as a lot as anybody, however then a film like The Wedding ceremony Banquet comes round and reminds one which the style can really feel massive, humorous and cinematic but extremely intimate and small. This new launch is in no way an enormous studio title, given it got here out of the Sundance Movie Pageant initially of the 12 months, but it surely has the sort of heat and enjoyable high quality that’s immediately each a crowd-pleaser and able to embrace you as a model new consolation film.
Just a few years in the past, director Andrew Ahn made us really feel all fluttery over Hulu’s Fireplace Island, as he introduced a recent spin on Satisfaction & Prejudice with the backdrop of Lengthy Island’s famously queer pleasant trip paradise from a script by Joel Kim Booster. For The Wedding ceremony Banquet, Ahn has co-written and directed his personal replace on Ang Lee’s 1993 comedy of the identical title. Not solely is that this The Wedding ceremony Banquet an amazing and expansive remake that builds upon the spirit of the unique, but it surely’s additionally its personal achievement within the celebration of queer pleasure for the LGBTQ+ group and easily an entertaining flick.
I didn’t count on to see Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran in a romantic comedy, however right here we’re… and their dramatic backgrounds assist floor The Wedding ceremony Banquet.
In terms of romantic comedies, there’s normally an inventory of traditional suspects of whom one may count on to see within the style. Amongst them wasn’t essentially Lily Gladstone coming off of her Killers Of The Flower Moon Oscar nomination or The Final Jedi’s Kelly Marie Tran. And but, these two completely create one thing particular in The Wedding ceremony Banquet by infusing their dramatic chops with their talents to hit the appropriate comedic beats. The actresses play a lived-in couple, Lee and Angela who’ve gone via all of the first-time fireworks and such lengthy previous to the place the film begins issues off for them. They’ve been attempting to make use of IVF to have their first little one, but it surely’s confirmed not solely to be unsuccessful however put them in vital debt.
Their physician has advised that Lee (Gladstone) solely strive as soon as extra, however at this level, they’re so drained and careworn from their previous makes an attempt that they discover themselves at a stand nonetheless. That’s till their pal Min (South Korea’s Han Gi-Chan) turns into determined for his inexperienced card and his longtime companion Chris (Bowen Yang) isn’t fairly able to say “I do.” There’s, nonetheless, a proposal anyway: Min asks Angela to marry him in order that he can keep in America and in trade he’ll assist them pay for his or her subsequent IVF process. It is oddly the right plan for every of the principle characters to get what they need… that’s, till Min’s grandmother (performed by Minari Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung) flies from South Korea to see the completely happy couple.
Not solely are Tran and Gladstone the sweetest pair, however The Wedding ceremony Banquet additionally spends power on giving Min and Chris a mixture of hilarity and deep moments together with placing in time forwarding the connection dynamics between Angela’s relationship together with her very concerned mom (Joan Chen) together with Min and his grandmother. It’s a on condition that Saturday Night time Dwell’s Bowen Yang is aware of how you can hit a mark in terms of a joke, however Han particularly shines in terms of snicker rely in his first English-language characteristic, too.
The Wedding ceremony Banquet balances a storyline about queer acceptance and pleasure with grace.
Contemplating The Wedding ceremony Banquet’s intention to be each a marriage comedy and a household drama that resonates with the LGBTQ+ group, issues might have simply taken a clumsy flip, however the film’s stunning stability of tone is a part of what makes it so gratifying. Whilst you undoubtedly need to see these enjoyable hijinks between the forged (and also you do) the place they’re scrambling to tug off a straight and conventional Korean marriage ceremony to ensure that the celebrities to align for each {couples}, the incredible script – written by Ahn and authentic The Wedding ceremony Banquet co-writer James Schamus – is simply as excited by why these characters are going via with it within the first place, and it solely heightens the narrative.
On Angela’s aspect, there’s a gorgeously memorable arc between Tran’s character and Chen’s Could as they take care of an imperfect and bruised mom/daughter relationship that’s solely extra exacerbated by Angela on the brink of make the choice to be a mom herself. And on Min’s aspect, there’s an actual palpability to the emotion because the plotline strikes ahead. In terms of storylines about LGBTQ+ acceptance, oftentimes motion pictures can lean too far into the camp or seriousness, however The Wedding ceremony Banquet feels really real and human.
Fireplace Island author/director Andrew Ahn delivers one other refreshing twist on a traditional with this film.
Andrew Ahn’s course usually finds the distinctive angles to painting his characters, and doesn’t have the power to cut back the film into any sort of cliché all through its runtime. It feels almost unattainable to not really feel with these characters and root for them because the pair of {couples} undergo the motions of marriage ceremony traditions like photographs, bachelor events and household meet-and-greets. Jay Wadley’s rating provides a mild contact to the movie as properly.
Because the film floats its viewers via its runtime, it’s clear assertion concerning the significance of chosen household and imperfection is spoken to so superbly that one desires to cry unhappy tears – however there’s a celebratory high quality to how every of the characters come out of the plotline that flip its stingy emotion proper round to completely happy tears and straightforward smiles. It’s the sort of feeling that reminds one why romantic comedies stay to be such a strong style when dealt with with care.