The Wedding Banquet

Wai-Tung, a Taiwanese-American real estate agent, has built a comfortable life in Manhattan with his boyfriend Simon. His parents in Taiwan, unaware that he is gay, keep pressing him about marriage, so he arranges a sham wedding to Wei-Wei, a Chinese artist facing deportation who needs a green card. The plan is meant to satisfy his family and help her stay in the country. It unravels when his parents arrive in New York and turn the simple arrangement into an elaborate Chinese banquet, forcing the three of them to manage the consequences.

Ang Lee directed and co-wrote the film with James Schamus and Neil Peng, and produced it with Schamus and Ted Hope. It was his second feature, following Pushing Hands and preceding Eat Drink Man Woman. The cast includes Winston Chao as Wai-Tung, Mitchell Lichtenstein as Simon, May Chin as Wei-Wei, and Sihung Lung and Gua Ah-leh as his parents.

Released in 1993, the film combines comedy, drama and romance across a United States and Taiwan production. It took about 24 million dollars worldwide, a strong return for an independent feature. On IMDb the film holds a 7.4 rating from 29 reviews, while on TMDB it sits at 7.2 from over 300 votes, indicating that critics and audiences responded to it similarly.