The Wedding Banquet (2025): A New Table Is Set
From screen to stage, we fill the house. Another successful Takeover.
By Julie Huang
When Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet debuted in 1993, it quietly broke new ground - offering a queer, cross-cultural romantic farce at a time when few films dared to. More than thirty years later, The Wedding Banquet is back, this time in the hands of director Andrew Ahn and co-writer James Schamus (who also co-wrote the original). And yes, we brought a group of friends to see it at the Regal Union Square Theater. I wasn’t sure how a modern reimagining would land, but it turns out: it’s a banquet worth attending.
Premiering earlier this year at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and now in theaters, the new version stars Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, and Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung. The setup is still farce - a fake marriage to resolve some very real problems - but in this version, the cultural pressure points and character dynamics have shifted. We’re in a world where same-sex marriage is legal, IVF is financially out of reach, and familial expectations still loom large across oceans and generations.
Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) are a couple trying to navigate fertility struggles and deep emotional rifts. Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan), their best friends and housemates, are caught in their own visa-versus-commitment standoff. A sham wedding - proposed for all the wrong reasons - becomes the central tension. It’s a bit wild on paper, but Ahn keeps it grounded through authentic performances and a sense of emotional realism.
The ensemble is strong, but it’s Lily Gladstone and Youn Yuh-jung who hold the emotional weight of the story. Gladstone brings quiet depth and heartbreak to Lee, while Youn’s performance as Min’s grandmother sparkles with humor, history, and unexpected warmth.
Some critics, like Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times, drew comparisons to Shakespearean comedy and praised Ahn’s attention to unspoken emotional dynamics. Carlos Aguilar in Variety noted how the 2025 retelling centers the women and updates the emotional stakes for a generation that can legally marry - but still struggles to belong. And while Natalia Winkelman in IndieWire found the film “blandly charming,” even she admitted the matriarchs were the standout element.
There are moments when the film doesn’t quite hit its mark. The tonal shifts between screwball comedy and intimate drama can be jarring. Bowen Yang, as funny as ever, occasionally feels stuck between his SNL instincts and the sincerity the role demands. But despite a few bumps, the film carries you - sometimes laughing, sometimes tearing up - toward a surprisingly hopeful and satisfying resolution.
Ahn and Schamus reframed the story. In 1993, the question was how to hide your truth from your family. In 2025, the question is what kind of family you want to build - or patch together - once you stop hiding. It’s less about passing and more about choosing. Less about secrecy, more about survival - and joy.
I was glad we rallied a group to see this one. Not just because it was funny, moving, and smart - but because it gave us something to talk about on the walk home. Found family, old family, what we owe each other and what we owe ourselves. That’s the stuff a good movie serves up - and The Wedding Banquet does it with warmth, charm, and something to chew on long after the credits roll.
Go see this movie.
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