Movie · 2025 · Comedy, Romance, Drama · 1h 43m · R · English
Curator score: 3.9/10 (46.2K ratings)
Overview
Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela in exchange for her partner Lee's expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min's grandmother surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.9/10
IMDb: 6.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.25/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Metacritic: 68
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Andrew Ahn
Production
Symbolic Exchange, Kindred Spirit, Shivhans Pictures, Bleecker Street
Cast
Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-chan, Joan Chen, Youn Yuh-jung, Bobo Le, Camille Atebe, Jeffrey Liang, Emma Yi, Françoise Yip, Marlee Walchuk, Jeremy Hoffman, Sherine Menes, Nick Preston, Andrew Woo, Lily Yawson, Carolyn Yonge, Jeffrey Joseph, Mia Golden
Where to watch
fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium
Curator Review
Verdict
A warm, crowd-pleasing queer rom-com with a strong sense of family chaos, but it sounds uneven in chemistry and emotional payoff. The best material comes from the ensemble and the cultural-comedy details; the weaker stretches seem to undercut the film’s bigger feelings.
Best for
Viewers who like heartfelt ensemble comedies with messy relationships
Fans of queer romance and chosen-family stories
People who enjoy wedding farce, generational conflict, and culture-clash humor
Audiences looking for an easygoing date-night movie with emotional sincerity
Skip if
You want tightly calibrated romantic chemistry
You’re sensitive to underwritten supporting characters
You prefer comedies that stay light and never get melodramatic
You expect the film to match the emotional precision of the original
Overview
The Wedding Banquet plays like a modernized screwball about obligation, intimacy, and the awkward bargains people make to stay afloat. Its appeal seems to come less from plot mechanics than from the social comedy around them: jobs, money, family pressure, and the absurd logistics of trying to build a life while everyone else has a say in it. The result is often funny, occasionally very sweet, and clearly designed to be rewatchable comfort viewing.
Worth noting
The ensemble is the main draw. Reviews consistently point to the older generation as the emotional anchor, with the grandmother and family dynamics giving the movie its soul. At the same time, the film appears to leave some of its central romantic material undercooked, which blunts the payoff of the more serious turns. That imbalance keeps it from fully landing as a great romance, even if it remains an appealing comedy.
Bottom line
If you’re here for queer domestic chaos, generational friction, and a polished studio-comedy sheen, this should work well enough. If you need the love story to feel deeply lived-in, or want every emotional beat to hit cleanly, it may feel a little forced. Still, there’s enough charm and specificity here to make it an easy recommendation for the right audience.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Q (2★) · 4532 likes
the jobs in this were great. one guy’s job was birdwatching. another one’s job was worms. the grandma worked for “corporation.” lily gladstone literally worked at gay. and who can forget patchwork fabric guy. just incredible stuff going on
cait (3.5★) · 3295 likes
the only way to survive in this economy is to be part of a quadruple income gay polycule
Pabs Cuba (4.5★) · 2173 likes
They're gonna have 15 non binary babies
Angie Han (3.5★) · 1127 likes
lovely movie! had a great time! however, i just gotta say it: some of the least convincing fake eating in recent memory.
why does the one guy take the tiniest nibble imaginable of an already stumpy french fry. why is the one girlfriend eating her burrito out of a kitchen towel like that. why is the other one just kind of holding her bao like she got tired halfway through eating it. just put it down at that point. why… more
Robert Daniels (3.5★) · 1047 likes
I just thought this was incredibly lovely, funny and highly rewatchable. I certainly have my criticisms: Bowen Yang doesn’t carry big emotions well; Lily Gladstone is underused; Ahn sometimes opts for restrictive framing of actors’ faces, thereby undercutting their performances. But I still think much of this was touching, especially the stellar work by Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-jung, who really carry the theme of deferred love with a soulfulness that made this broad screwball comedy infinitely tighter and more memorable.
The original remains the essential companion piece: sharper as a farce, bittersweet in its family dynamics, and foundational for the story’s queer-romantic and cultural tensions.
1996 · Comedy, Romance · 1h 59m · R · Curator 7.8/10 (359.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
A classic farce about family, performance, and queer visibility, with a big comedic engine and heart underneath.