The Wedding Banquet (1993)

To satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand.

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

Ang Lee, Neil Peng

Stars:

Winston Chao, May Chin, Ah-Lei Gua

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 12 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ah-Lei Gua	...	Mrs. Gao (as Ah-Leh Gua)
Sihung Lung	...	Mr. Gao
May Chin	...	Wei-Wei
Winston Chao	...	Wai-Tung Gao
Mitchell Lichtenstein	...	Simon
Dion Birney	...	Andrew
Jeanne Kuo Chang	...	Wai-Tung's Secretary
Paul Chen	...	Guest
Chung-Wei Chou	...	Chef
Yun Chung	...	Guest
Ho-Mean Fu	...	Guest
Michael Gaston	...	Justice of the Peace
Jeffrey Howard	...	Street Musician
Theresa Hou	...	Female Cashier
Yung-Teh Hsu	...	Bob Law, Wai-Tung's Old Friend

Storyline

Simon and Wei-Tung are a gay couple living together in Manhattan. To defer the suspicions of Wei-Tung's parents, Simon suggests a marriage of convenience between Wei-Tung and Wei-Wei, an immigrant in need of a green card. When Wei-Tung's parents come to America for the wedding, they insist upon an elaborate banquet, resulting in several complications.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage of convenience | gay couple | gay son | marriage pressure | asian man white man relationship | 

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Taglines:

You are cordially invited to a wedding where everybody wants to kiss the bride... except the groom.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

Taiwan USA

Language:

Mandarin English

Release Date:

4 August 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Wedding Banquet

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$134,870, 8 August 1993

Gross USA:

$6,933,459

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,933,459

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ang Lee Productions, Central Motion Pictures, Good Machine

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the most financially profitable film of 1993, earning $23.6 million from a budget of $1 million. This gave it a cost-to-return ratio of 23.6, considerably higher than 1993's biggest money-maker "Jurassic Park" whose ratio was 13.8.

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Goofs

During the small family dinner to which Simon treats the newlyweds and Wei-Tung's parents, Simon can be seen to alternately hold chopsticks, a small bowl or nothing in his left hand, depending on the camera angle.

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Quotes

Wai-Tung Gao: I don't know, we should have moved you out.
Simon: I'll survive.
Wai-Tung Gao: Not if Wei Wei keeps cooking.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Fugitive/The Meteor Man/Manhattan Murder Mystery/The Secret Garden/The Wedding Banquet (1993)

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Soundtracks

Madame Butterfly
Written by Giacomo Puccini

User Reviews

Wedding Banquet is my all-time favorite

The Wedding Banquet was the first Ang Lee film that I watched. I remember I was about 10 or 11 years old when I watched it. At that time, I did not understand the movie at all. However, as I grow older, I watched it again and I realized what a masterpiece that Ang Lee had accomplished. Coming from the same background, as Taiwanese immigrant to the United States, I can certainly relate many of issues with the protagonist Wai-Tung. My parents are exactly like Wai-Tung's parents. They have high expectation of the son and carry on the family name is the most important thing. Ang Lee did a very good job on depicting the traditional father figure in Taiwanese society. My father, very much like Wai-Tung's, is a very serious person. To him everything has to be done straight and upright. My mother on the other hand is very sentimental. She would just cry like Wai-Tung's mother in the movie. Taiwanese mothers always care for their son so much that they literally do everything for their son, just like how Wai-Tung's mother sets up a blind date for him. My parents are so serious that sometimes if I joke about me liking a man they would get upset. Therefore, I really can understand how Wai-Tung has to hide his secret for such a long time in the movie.

I like how Ang Lee uses Wai-Tung to represent Taiwan; Wei-Wei to represent China, and Simon to represent the US. In the movie, there is one scene where Wei-Wei wears a red dress in the air port picking up Wai-Tung's parents, I just could not help myself but laugh at the expression that Wai-Tung's dad gives when he sees Wei-Wei. He must think her as another communist he fought in the Chinese civil war. Another fascinating thing about this movie is that I watched it again in my film study class and even the movie is in mandarin, my classmates seem to understand the messages and laugh about them. I guess it is the magic of the movie. It really can transcend time and languages. Overall, Wedding Banquet has became my all time favorite of all the Ang Lee films.