The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) (1993)

96% of critics liked it
(26 reviews)
86% of users liked it
(7,420 ratings)

A gay New Yorker stages a marriage of convenience with a young woman to satisfy his traditional Taiwanese family, but the wedding becomes a major inconvenience when his parents fly in for the ceremony. Director Ang Lee came to international prominence with this warm-hearted comedy, which centers on… More A gay New Yorker stages a marriage of convenience with a young woman to satisfy his traditional Taiwanese family, but the wedding becomes a major inconvenience when his parents fly in for the ceremony. Director Ang Lee came to international prominence with this warm-hearted comedy, which centers on the farcical confusion that emerges from this deception. Gao Wai Tung (Winston Chao) has never shared the truth about his sexuality with his family, and hopes to disguise his long-term relationship with his lover Simon by marrying Wei-Wei, a young artist who's only it for the green card. But Wai Tung's parents refuse to let him off the hook easily, showing up to plan a massive wedding banquet. Indeed, much of the film's comedy springs from the contrast between the sheer lavishness of the parents' plans and the sham nature of the wedding. Naturally, the titular party spins out of control, leading to a series of events that threatens all of Wai Tung's relationships. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 51 min.
Directed By: Ang Lee
Written By: Ang Lee, Neil Peng, James Schamus
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International, Gay & Lesbian, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 4, 1993 Wide
On DVD: Jun 15, 2004

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
A very adroit and entertaining social comedy.
Variety Staff, Variety
Most of this is smoothly done and scripted with plenty of incident.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
It is the unusual film comedy in which the humor springs as much from character as from situation.
Joe Brown, Washington Post
Ang's elegantly orchestrated farce is generous with hilarious moments.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
The Wedding Banquet never becomes bogged down by its own seriousness. Lee manages to keep the production buoyant by including scenes that are often riotously funny.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The Wedding Banquet does take some of the same delight in constructing a comedy of misunderstandings and deceptions. But the movie also has a warm heart, and by the end somehow manages to become very moving.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Lee sustains the bubbling hilarity, but also provides quieter, deeper observation of the characters' motives and moods.
Colette Maude, Empire Magazine
This tale of a marriage of convenience charms and amuses with strong comedic performances with a great script and some beautifully shot sequences.
Kim Newman, Empire Magazine
Cultural clashes all over the place in this sweet and gently comedy.
, Film4
Lee's control of his characters is already pretty masterful: this is a smart, funny and moving work.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
This sharply observed madcap comedy, about a marriage of convenience between a gay Taiwanese American and a Chinese woman, examines the primacy of the individual within a culture that worships authority and rewards conformity.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Never patronising his characters, Ang Lee combines comedy, both subtle and raucous, with acute social asides.
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com
A thoughtful and ultimately deeply moving story about family ties, tradition, and acceptance.
Gil Jawetz, DVDTalk.com
The Wedding Banquet fits perfectly into a lot of niche film categories: Indie, queer, immigrant. But really it transcends those labels.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Fine, subtle, moving Ang Lee film.
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
clever, consistently funny and unexpectedly poignant to boot

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Wonderful portrait of what seems like a good idea at the time which spins wildly out of control and changes everyone involved, ultimately for the better even if its not immediately apparent at the time. Beautiful ending.
Jennifer X

Ang Lee's portrayal of the hot gay love pre-Brokeback. It's sweeter, wittier, and infinitely more Asian. The girl was a bitch.
Aliyanto L

No wonder Ang Lee was so capable in making Brokeback Mountain since this is his first & Asian version!
Sunil J

Good but dated. Ang Lee did a great job directing and the script is strong.
Daisy M

Ang Lee s romantic comedy drama The Wedding Banquet was about a gay Wai Tun,living in New York and son of a traditional Taiwanese family, who had never told his family the truth about his sexuality.He agreed to marry Wei Wei a young artist who did this only for the green card and for… More
Ang Lee s romantic comedy drama The Wedding Banquet was about a gay Wai Tun,living in New York and son of a traditional Taiwanese family, who had never told his family the truth about his sexuality.He agreed to marry Wei Wei a young artist who did this only for the green card and for his family so they would never found out he was gay . Everything, as common in comedies, became complicated when his family arrived in New York for the wedding. The Taiwanese culture was quite funny and here you could experience traditions which were not yours in a funny way. Ang Lee is a great director and this romantic comedy he gave the messages about honesty and acceptance. It was a very enjoyable movie with some funny scenes but also some sad ones.
Sylvester K

The best of Lee's Taiwanese Trilogy!!
Sarah P

I only watched about the first 15 minutes, I just couldn't get into it.
Ina S

Funny, funny, funny. Need to rewatch this one day, saw it ages ago.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings

Cast

Winston Chao
as Wai Tung
May Chin
as Wei-Wei
Mitchell Lichtenstein
as Simon

Sihung Lung
as Mr. Gao
Ah-Leh Gua
as Mrs. Gao
Jeffrey Howard
as Street Musician

See full cast

Now you can share movies with your friends on Facebook!

Discover movies your friends are watching
Keep track of what you want to see
Add your reviews to your Timeline

Get Started