In an era when gay marriage is legal, parenting of the same sex is common and the decision to build a nuclear family is for many millennials not complicated by cultural, sexual or family barriers but rather ethical and economic, it may seem like an odd choice to do about Lees 1993 ”The wedding banquet. “But when you look at Andrew Ahn’s Friendly Dramatic, which expands on the original condition while retaining their central themes for Found Family and Tolerance, rarely questioning the relevance of history. It lacks the panache more vital.
The film follows a lesbian couple and a gay couple who share a shared residence at the level: Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) lives in the upper house, while Chris (Bowen yang) and my (he gi-chan) lives in the converted garage. The story begins conventionally and loses exposure to introduce the lighthouse. And for a while, each couple barely amounts to more than a wide stroke and a conflict. Lee is a charming that is anxious that her in vitro fertilization treatments result in pregnancy, while Crankier Angela worries that her strained relationship with her mother (Joan Chen) may affect her own parenting. The rudderless Chris and Trust-Fund Endowed min, in the meantime, navigate in Chris reluctance to get involved in a marriage that would enable mine, which risks losing his green card, to stay in the country.
Go into the wild encouraging idea: a marriage and money exchange between mine and Angela, where mine ensures his legal residence and Angela receives funds for Lees IVF. Why this is the simplest solution to the couple’s problems is never really motivated. Couldn’t mine, who rolls in family money, simply cover Lee’s treatments without marriage? And why is Chris, a seemingly rational person and a devoted boyfriend, so categorically opposed to help his partner in five years and sign a marriage license?
The script, credited to Ahn and Lee’s original co -author James Schamus, does not waste time left in these unknowns. Instead, it hurries to introduce their best character: my sharp grandmother (Youn Yuh-Jung), who, after learning my (false) commitment, insists on flying over from Korea for the wedding. Soon enough, Lee, Angela and Chris are rushing to prepare the house for Grandma’s arrival by clearing it from Queer Miscellanea – a smart and Farcical scene that also appears in the original movie.
Next to the four of millennial mess-ups, Lin’s grandmother and Angela’s mother are welcome screen presents. Yuh-Jung and Chen provide a depth and dignity to their matriarchal roles that are lost in the younger generation, which, despite a bundle of comic chops, is struggling to get the thin characterizations they have received. As our leader, Angela comes the most living life in scenes opposite her mother, where the script allows her to confront her mother issues instead of repeating them in dialogue six times over. Mine gets the same space to open up in scenes with his grandmother; And Chris, in the moment opposite his spunky younger cousin (Bobo Le). It leaves the constantly talented Gladstone seemingly stranded in a script that does not give her enough of a character-a cardinal sin from which the movie never recovers.
Stylistically, the “Wedding Banet” has the nice look and the feeling of prestige TV. During a faux bachelor party for Angela, the friends gather at a spacious queer dance club so clearly fictional that it made me think of a meme: queer dance clubs rule; I wish they were real. In a wide and comfortable comedy like this, it is common to raise reality. Ahn’s exceptional “Fire Island” did just that while he remained founded in genuine feeling. But in the midst of this film’s overall bland, the inauthenticity is thrown into its wishes for the fulfillment of wishes in sharper relief.
The film stands out when switching between comedy and sincerity, although the two positions are rarely channeled within the same sequences. If decent movies can make us laugh and then make us tear down, they make us do both at the same time.
The “wedding banquet” is entirely of the previous type, as shown in its end. At this point, the exhibition machine that was on full gas in the first act seems to have been peculled, and the release arrives without a great apology speech or even so much dialogue at all. It is somewhat refreshing that Ahn chose to let his characters rebuild their crackled relationships by feeling appearance and wordless hugs rather than tearful exchanges. But there is something cheap about tying a bow around their romance after the chaos they have all created.
It also feels necessary to note that while the film flaunts its progressive bona fides, it still ends in a traditional way: marriage, monogamy, childbirth. The next “wedding banquet” does not have to be poly, but hopefully it will have a line more personality.
Rating: C+
“The Wedding Bank” premiered at 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Bleecker Street releases it in theaters on Friday, April 18.
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