While The Wedding Banquet follows the traditional format of a zany comedy, it is also a story of the cost of deception and the power of family and ethnic rituals·
• Thank goodness for the magical American green card - it has put steak on the table and helped a generation of filmmakers to be "in the money"·
• Depiction of queer-straight weddings in films have been around for a long time (as have green card marriage themed films)· What is somewhat unusual in The Wedding Banquet is that while the excesses of the Taiwanese wedding (or Jewish, or Italian, or …) are satirized, the customs are also treated with sensitivity and seriousness·
• There is a tendency today to view marriage as little more than a second-stage hook-up, just a bit more complicated than simply picking up one's clothes from the floor of the bedchamber and walking out the front door at one's pleasure, but not much more· As the silliness of the marriage banquet fades, the seriousness of the afterward rears itself· The protagonists come to the realization that cultural tradition, ritual and norms matters not only to family and community, but to themselves personally· Not to be a spoiler (this is after all a comedy), it all works out ok - pretty much so anyway· Cynic that I sometimes am, the writers have left some sequel hooks though; you are left wondering how this and that are going to work out·
• The Wedding Banquet has been around for quite a while, and it has pretty much stood the test of time· If you haven't seen it, and are looking for lighter fair, search it out.