The Wedding Banquet (M) – 104 minutes

A delightful crowd pleaser, The Wedding Banquet is a reworking of a movie of the same name, co-written and directed by Ang Lee, which was released in 1993.

That film followed a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant in happy domesticity with his boyfriend in New York.

The original was made before the legalisation of same-sex marriage and has been reconceived now with LGBTQIA+ rights in the US under ever-increasing threat.

A comedy of errors about family expectations, queerness and cultural identity, The Wedding Banquet focuses on four friends.

Angela Chen (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) are in love. Lee is desperate to have a child, but now two rounds of IVF treatment have failed and the couple doesn’t have the money to try again.

Min (Han Gi-Chan) and Chris (Bowen Yang) are also in love. They have been in a relationship for five years, but when Min asks Chris to marry him, Chris turns him down.

From a wealthy family, Min has been in the US for seven years on a student visa, which is about to expire.

With his parents having passed, he has been sent to the States by his grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung), who is chairwoman of a Korean multinational.

It has always been the wish of Min’s unbending grandfather (Ja-Young’s husband) – who is intolerant of gay people – that Min take over the business.

Min isn’t interested in doing so, but much to his chagrin, his grandmother calls him back to Korea to become creative director.

Min hatches a plan to get his green card in exchange for funding Lee’s third round of IVF. It involves him marrying Angela, who is forever embarrassed by her limelight-seeking mother, May (Joan Chen).

Although reluctant at first, Angela agrees.

But when Ja-Young arrives unannounced from Korea, what was meant to be a low-key affair becomes an all-out wedding extravaganza.

And, as the saying goes, that ain’t the half of it. There are more surprises at every turn.

The script is well realised by director Andrew Ahn and James Schamus (who co-wrote the original). The dialogue stands out for the right reasons.

While it took me a few minutes to get the lie of the land, thereafter I quickly warmed to the conceit in The Wedding Banquet.

It becomes a real charmer thanks to fulsome performances by an excellent cast.

In short, all the leads are decent, intelligent people trying to make their way in the world.

They each have their own charm, but it is the interplay between them that makes the film work.

With the clock ticking, despite Lee’s desperation, Angela isn’t convinced having a baby is right for her.

Chris – who is commitment-phobic – prevaricates.

One of my favourite characters was Ja-Young as the no-nonsense grandmother whose eyes are opened.

Another is Chris’ younger cousin, Kendall (Bobo Lee), who Chris has looked after and now she returns the favour.

The combination of drama and humour in The Wedding Banquet works a treat.

Rated M, it scores an 8 out of 10.