The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) (1993)
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 26
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 1
Ang Lee's funny and ultimately poignant comedy of manners reveals the filmmaker's skill across genres.
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 0
Ang Lee's funny and ultimately poignant comedy of manners reveals the filmmaker's skill across genres.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 7,737
Movie Info
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
Aug 4, 1993 Wide
Jun 15, 2004
Cast
-
Winston Chao
Wai Tung -
May Chin
Wei-Wei -
Mitchell Lichtenstein
Simon -
Sihung Lung
Mr. Gao -
Ah-Leh Gua
Mrs. Gao -
Jeffrey Howard
Street Musician -
Patricia Sullivan
Mariane -
Ang Lee
Wedding Guest -
-
Michael Gaston
Justice of the Peace -
Neal Huff
Steve -
Mason Lee
Child Jumping on Bed (u...
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All Critics (26) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (1) | DVD (4)
A very adroit and entertaining social comedy.
Top CriticMost of this is smoothly done and scripted with plenty of incident.
Never patronising his characters, Ang Lee combines comedy, both subtle and raucous, with acute social asides.
It is the unusual film comedy in which the humor springs as much from character as from situation.
Ang's elegantly orchestrated farce is generous with hilarious moments.
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.
Lee sustains the bubbling hilarity, but also provides quieter, deeper observation of the characters' motives and moods.
This tale of a marriage of convenience charms and amuses with strong comedic performances with a great script and some beautifully shot sequences.
Cultural clashes all over the place in this sweet and gently comedy.
Lee's control of his characters is already pretty masterful: this is a smart, funny and moving work.
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.
A thoughtful and ultimately deeply moving story about family ties, tradition, and acceptance.
Fine, subtle, moving Ang Lee film.
clever, consistently funny and unexpectedly poignant to boot
This is an enjoyable film, though perhaps not as good as word-of-mouth would have it.
The Wedding Banquet wins fans with its sunny disposition as it turns a contemporary story about a marriage of convenience into a deft bedroom farce and humanist drama.
I just never found myself caring quite enough.
Audience Reviews for The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan)
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Movie: ID: 13288 Title: The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) Release Date: 1993-08-04 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Das Hochzeitsbankett (DE)
