The Wedding Banquet (1993)

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By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 14, 2000 | 4 out of 4 found this The Wedding Banquet (1993) review helpful

Prior to viewing this movie I had no idea what it was about, nor had I heard of it. The story is a portrayal of two gay American lovers, one Chinese and the other a caucasion who live in New York. Their lives become complicated when the parents of t...he Chinese man try to arrange a marriage for him from Taiwan, where they still live. He has not been able to tell them he is gay and was able to fend off their assistance until they tell him they are arriving in the US. Their candidate, also Chinese, was flown to the US to meet him. She had lived in San Francisco for several years and had a caucasion boyfriend she could not tell her family about either. Enter the Chinese female tenant of the Asian man, who has been having financial problems and cannot pay her rent. The two males and the female decide to present the female as his fiance that he has failed to tell them about. The parents had arrived with plans for a full Chinese wedding. The couple had planned on a quick wedding at city hall. The wedding scene is very entertaining with the totally cold and absurd ceremony and lack of mutual language skills of the bride and the person marrying them. Through a coincidental meeting of the parents and a former acquaintance, a Chinese banquet is arranged for the couple. As a result of the pressure from the young wedding guests, the story takes a serious turn as the female becomes pregnant from this one sexual contact. The story is funny, moving, sad and above all interesting. One never loses sight of the characters, including the parents, and can readily identify with their plight. Much of the dialogue is in Chinese and has English subtitles that are very easy to read. I recently saw the video again and had totally forgotten about the subtitles, but vividly remembered the movie. Read more Less