Editor's note: This review contains spoilers for The Wedding Banquet (2025), which premiered at Sundance and is scheduled for a theatrical release later this year.
No other movie at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival has moved me or made me laugh like Andrew Ahn's The Wedding Banquet.
Ahn — whose work includes Spa Night and Fire Island — reaches new career heights by reimagining Ang Lee's classic 1993 film The Wedding Banquet.
In this 2025 version, South Korean actor Han Gi-chan (in his first English-language role) plays Min, a young artist living in Seattle... far, far away from his conservative family in Korea. When Min's grandmother calls, she asks him to take a job at the family company and return to Korea. As a result, Min proposes to his perpetual grad student boyfriend, Chris (Bowen Yang), who freaks out at the idea of commitment.
In the movie, Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) is a lesbian scientist who happens to be Chris's best friend. Angela's mom comes across as "the world's proudest ally" archetype who never misses a chance to brag about what a great mother of a gay child she is. It is also established that Angela's partner, Lee (Lily Gladstone, great as always!), has experienced a second failed attempt at IVF treatment. As it stands, the couple doesn't have enough money to try it for a third time.
While the movie is mainly about these four characters, special praise must be given to Joan Chen (who also played the mother of a lesbian in the wonderful 2004 film Saving Face), as Angela's too-proud mother, and Youn Yu-jung (who won an Oscar for Minari) as Min's loving grandmother. This movie truly is a family affair, with every member of the principal cast giving it all and delivering unforgettable performances.
Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures
In an attempt to solve all of their problems at once, Min asks Angela to marry him — which allows him to continue living in the United States — in exchange for funding Lee's third IVF procedure.
Before the farce can really get started, though, Min's grandmother flies in from Korea and can immediately clock that Min and Angela aren't really in love. The grandma has known for years that Min is gay but never felt comfortable enough to discuss it. In any event, the grandmother decides to help them put on a proper Korean wedding.
Alas, things get even more complicated when Angela realizes that she's gotten pregnant after drunkenly hooking up with Chris — which is something they hadn't done since freshman year of college. But after a night of big fights with their respective partners, these two characters talk things out with their bodies, not their words!
These events challenge the group of friends to come back together not only as two couples, but also as a queer chosen family. After Chris hears from a cousin that "none of us are good enough alone," he is even more motivated for this group to make amends.
Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures
If you're familiar with the original The Wedding Banquet film, it becomes clear that this is more of a reshaping than a remake. Ahn worked with James Schamus, who co-wrote the 1993 original, on this new script — managing to keep the heart of that film while recentering it within modern queer culture and relationship dynamics. Through this 2025 reimagining of The Wedding Banquet, Ahn shows how much he's matured as a director by using his all-star cast to full effect.
Yang delivers his best film performance yet, providing the laughs he's known for while bringing gravity and verisimilitude to his dramatic scenes. Tran is a true delight: a dramatic master with natural comedic talent and a personality that shines through beautifully. I hadn't seen Gladstone in anything until 2023's Killers of the Flower Moon, and now I can confidently say she's one of my favorite actors in film. Han is adorable in the film, and he also succeeds in his English-language debut.
The Wedding Banquet had me belly laughing and full-body sobbing. This is what real love and family look like. In a time when half the country is trying to dictate what families can look like, The Wedding Banquet throws all of that out with its radical approach to love, connection, and joy. We can all build a family that feels right for ourselves.
In numbers, our review is five out of five stars.
The Wedding Banquet (2025) opens April 18 in theaters.
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