Bowen Yang's Buzzy Romance Had An Early Screening, And Critics Are Already All Over The Wedding Banquet

Currently the Sundance Film Festival is debuting some titles that could go on to become hotly anticipated releases on the 2025 movie schedule. One such picture is currently making the rounds in director Andrew Ahn’s remake of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet. Boasting a cast that includes Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang among other luminaries, an early screening has taken place, and the reactions are quite buzzy for the Saturday Night Live cast member’s latest.

Andrew Ahn’s first film since 2022’s underrated queer rom-com Fire Island, the April 18th release seems to have pleased audiences left and right. In the 2025 update, the story sees Min (Han Gi-chan) proposing a mutually beneficial marriage with friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), which ultimately leads to an extended charade worthy of a touching rom-com.

As you’ll see in the reactions shared below, we could have an early hit on our hands:

• “THE WEDDING BANQUET is an absolute joy. What a blissfully entertaining movie this is, a funny and witty and emotional and totally absorbing queer romantic comedy with one of the finest ensemble casts I’ve seen in some time. This one’s a true crowdpleaser you won’t want to miss!” - @mrbrianrowe
• “The Wedding Banquet is a breath of fresh air. A genuinely funny situational rom-com with many touching moments and great performances from the entire ensemble. Seeing Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-Jung in significant supporting roles was a real delight. Highly recommended” - @withbrotherbro
• “THE WEDDING BANQUET is so lovable. A delightful celebration of love, queerness and chosen family. Kelly Marie Tran shows off her incredible talents & the whole cast delivers on the comedy and touching moments. Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-Jung steal the show!” - @ema_sasic
• “THE WEDDING BANQUET is a heartwarming celebration of friendship, family, and relationships. Andrew Ahn’s remake of the 1993 classic expectedly delivers plenty of laughs, but his sensitive direction allows the cast to truly shine in dramatic moments as well. Kelly Marie Tran and Youn Yuh-jung stand out with emotionally impactful performances that leave a lasting impression. While I expected something more commercial, this remake strikes a perfect balance between being entertaining and profoundly moving.” - @nextbestpicture
• “THE WEDDING BANQUET: Kelly Marie Tran dresses butchier than Raya, Lily Gladstone works at a pride org, Bowen Yang, and has the most MOTHER mothers in Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-jung stealing the show. Yes this is the gayest movie ever made. Yes, I sobbed so hard, numerous times.” - @rendy_jones

It’s way too early to tell if The Wedding Banquet could eventually compete in the race to become one of the best rom-coms ever. However it doesn’t seem inappropriate to highlight how people are pretty positive about this upcoming remake. Not to mention with the perceived renaissance of the genre in theatrical exhibition, it's reassuring to see an offering off the heteronormative beaten path making such noise.

It also feels like a bit of a vindication to see Joan Chen being highlighted as a scene stealer in The Wedding Banquet. Considering some of her fans are probably still upset about her failing to secure a 2025 Oscar nomination for her work in Didi, this is the sort of buzz that could keep her in the conversation when we start having these sorts of talks during the next awards cycle.

2025’s Sundance Film Festival will continue to show us the earliest entries in the race for box office and critical glory, with The Wedding Banquet representing what sounds like a high bar. We’ll see how things change over the rest of this exhibition, but at the moment it could also be said that Bowen Yang and the rest of the cast will also have their own moments in the spotlight as we proceed. So fingers crossed Lily Gladstone’s action movie ambitions get a boost from all of this chatter; if only for the sake of her knees.

At the moment, The Wedding Banquet is set for release on April 18th, though it wouldn’t be surprising if there were a shift of some sort. This sort of buzz is the kind that might inspire some to either move it up for earlier audience access, or back for awards season hype. Meanwhile, you can currently stream Andrew Ahn’s previous film, Fire Island, through access to a Hulu subscription.