The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) (1993)
The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) Photos
Movie Info
Watch it now
Cast
as Wai Tung
as Wei Wei
as Simon
as Mr. Gao
as Mrs. Gao
as Old Chen
as Steve
as Justice of the Peace
as Street Musician
as Restaurant Manager
as Andrew
as Joe
as Mariane
as Wai Tung's Secretary
as Child Jumping on Bed (uncredited)
as Wedding Guest
as Chef
Critic Reviews for The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan)
All Critics (27) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (1) | DVD (2)
A very adroit and entertaining social comedy.
Most 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.
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.
A sweet, perceptive story about the cost of deception and the power of family rituals.
Audience Reviews for The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan)
I thought this was a really good movie dragged down with needless melodrama in the last 25 minutes or so, poor English dialogue (and some corny subtitles for Mandarin during the melodramatic moments), pacing being hit and miss, and just an overall poor performance from Winston Chao. Other than that, this movie is quite good. There's some funny scenes in the movie, but if it was supposed to be hilarious then I never got it, other than the banquet scene, which was entertaining but also went on too goddamn long. The movie has a good story that had the potential to be better than it really was. Everything in this movie just feels like a missed opportunity. It's a massively disappointing movie since it just doesn't stand the test of time, especially compared to some of Ang's later films. But again, it's still a good movie, just one I wouldn't exactly recommend.
Super Reviewer
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.
Super Reviewer
Ang Lee's portrayal of the hot gay love pre-Brokeback. It's sweeter, wittier, and infinitely more Asian. The girl was a bitch.
Super Reviewer
The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) Quotes
| Mr. Gao: | Why are you crying? |
| Mrs. Gao: | Because I am happy. |
| Mr. Gao: | I'm happy, too. |