The Wedding Banquet Movie Review 1993

Charming story about a clash of customs and secrets. Naturalized American Wai Tung (Chao, in his film debut) lives comfortably with his lover Simon (Lichtenstein) while hiding the fact that he's gay from his Chinese parents. To appease his parents and get his "wife" (Chin) a green card, he marries for convenience and watches as the deception snowballs. Comedy of errors was shot on a small budget ($750,000) and examines small details with as much care as the larger ones. A fine effort from director Lee that's solidly humorous, but also poignant. In English and Chinese with subtitles.

Distribution

CBS/Fox Video, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, Phone: (212)373-4800, Toll-free: 800-800-4369, Fax: (212)373-4803, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS
Running time 111 minutes.
Originally from Taiwanese.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Romantic Comedy, Family Ties, Gays, Asian America, Wedding Hell, Interracial Affairs, Romantic Triangles, Marriages of Convenience

Screenplay

Ang Lee, Neil Peng, James Schamus

Cast

Winston Chao, May Chin, Mitchell Lichtenstein, Sihung Lung, Ah-Leh Gua, Michael Gaston, Jeffrey Howard

Cinematography

Jong Lin

Director

Ang Lee

Producer

Ted Hope, Ang Lee, James Schamus, Samuel Goldwyn Company