The Wedding Banquet: BFI Flare Film Review
As much as I liked the new Bridget Jones, I have found my favourite romantic comedy of the year (so far) with The Wedding Banquet.
A remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film, The Wedding Banquet centres on four best friends, made up of two couples living on one property in Seattle. There’s Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), longtime girlfriends who are trying for a baby and need money for another round of IVF. Then there’s Angela’s bestie Chris (Bowen Yang) and his rich Korean boyfriend Min (Han Gi-chan). Chaos ensues when Angela agrees to marry Min; he’ll placate his grandparents and get a green card and she’ll get her IVF money.
I absolutely adored this chosen family. Their individual arcs are interesting on their own but when you throw the other characters into the mix, it becomes so compelling. Each person is well defined and the dynamics between them are explored brilliantly. The relationships within the core four are realistic, nuanced and complicated, as well as the relationship between Angela and her mother May Chen (Joan Chen), and Min and his grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung).
As you can probably tell, I really loved the script, written by director Andrew Ahn and James Schamus. There are some big soap opera-level developments but the characters’ responses to them are so grounded in reality that they don’t feel too melodramatic. It is also hilariously funny, with so many laugh-out-loud lines. Ahn really strikes the balance between comedy and drama; it can be light-hearted one moment and heartfelt the next.
The performances are fantastic too. The core four have amazing chemistry and their friendship feels so convincing and natural. Gi-chan, the only cast member I didn’t know, cracked me up constantly, while Gladstone and Tran brought the drama. The main foursome was excellent, but my favourite was Yuh-jung (who won an Oscar for Minari). You think you know what her character will be like but she subverts expectations and has a wonderful arc. What a lovely surprise.
It’s rare to get a rom-com that delivers on the romance and the comedy in such a satisfying way. There are some melodramatic moments but I loved these characters and this dynamic so much that I didn’t really care. What a heartwarming delight!
Seen at the BFI Flare Film Festival. In cinemas from Friday 9th May
Rating: 4 out of 5.
