Movie Reviews

Movie Review: THE WEDDING BANQUET

Published

11 months ago

April 19, 2025

Fire Island director, Andrew Ahn, turns his sights on the classic Ang Lee-directed queer Asian dramedy The Wedding Banquet with his latest film. Updated for the 21^st century, the remake focuses on an ensemble of queer characters, led by comedian Bowen Yang and Star Wars actor Kelly Marie Tran. This time around, however, the antics and hijinks are put on the back burner for an intense and confusing ride.

About The Wedding Banquet

The Wedding Banquet poster featuring Han Gi-chan, Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, and Lily Gladstone. — The Wedding Banquet – Photo credit: Bleecker Street

In The Wedding Banquet (2025), we follow two couples. There’s Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), a scientist with mother issues, and her partner, Lee (Lily Gladstone), who is desperately trying for a baby. But IVF is expensive, and Lee’s body can only take so many attempts at it. They need to act fast, but how?

We also have Chris (Bowen Yang), a birder and guide, and his partner, Korean art student Min (Han Gi-Chan). They live in Lee’s guesthouse. Their relationship hurdle is that Chris is … insecure? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. Min is 1,000 percent committed to their relationship. He even plans to give up his family and his family fortune just to be with Chris. But Chris keeps turning him down, supposedly because he doesn’t want Min to lose his money, but it’s all a bit vague.

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Seeing the predicament the four of them are in, Min hatches a plan—he and Angela will get married so that Min can get a green card and avoid working in his family business back in Korea, and Angela can get the money to pay for the IVF. It’s preposterous, but it could work. Everything is going swimmingly, until Min’s grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung) arrives from Korea expecting a big wedding bash.

So, Uh, Where Exactly Is the Comedy?

I feel lied to; I saw the trailer for this film and laughed uproariously throughout. I knew I had to watch The Wedding Banquet because I needed a laugh riot. But what did I get? Decidedly not a laugh riot. Even if you haven’t seen the original 1993 classic, the one thing you’d know about it is that it is funny, hilarious, even. That’s what I expected going in. And did I mention the trailer? How did the film marketed in that trailer turn into the drag I watched?

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The biggest issue with the film is it can’t find the balance between the comedy (which is non-existent) and the drama—and this is because the pacing is completely off. It’s not even a rollercoaster; it’s a busted rollercoaster, screeching slowly up and down the tracks.

Andrew Ahn co-wrote this remake with one of the original’s writers and frequent Ang Lee collaborator, James Schamus. I’m certain that that’s where the great disconnect happens. This remake feels beholden to the original—it wants to meet and subvert the story beats of the OG, while also plotting a narrative of its own. The issue is, it does justice to neither path.

The Stakes Aren’t High Enough

Worse, the script tramples its ability to be funny. Everything is so dramatic and intense. Most of the film takes place without any music to underscore its potential for comedy. There are some funny moments, but, for the most part, The Wedding Banquet fights itself to be a remake and an original.

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The new film is set during a time when marriage is an option for all couples and sexuality is not taboo in the US (for now anyway), but the same can’t be said about several other countries, including South Korea. With that in mind, The Wedding Banquet would have worked if it were a clash between East and West. Yet that clash is significantly minimized since the spotlight is on the interpersonal issues of the characters. Min’s grandmother doesn’t arrive till late in the second act, and then, too, she’s not as big a threat as she was made out to be. The stakes are never high enough.

This Cast Deserved Better

I am struggling to rate the performances in The Wedding Banquet, because, again, I went in thinking this was going to be hilarious. This is why I don’t watch trailers, people. They lie.

Most of the cast does an incredible job, especially with the dramatic side of the story. Kelly Marie Tran handles what the script gives her really well—what would it have been like had she needed to lean into the comedic side? Who knows, but I would have loved to see it.

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I was so excited to see Lily Gladstone in this film. They have a substantial role at the start, and of course, kill it as a mature, put-together woman looking to start a family, but then they get sidelined for the majority of the film. Gladstone also gets some of the funnier dialogue and reactions, and they’re just so good at everything.

Joan Chen as Angela’s mother, May Chen, is criminally underutilized. She’s got such a captivating presence and star power that the limited screen time and character development she was given made no sense.

Youn Yuh-jung is wonderful in her role. She’s an effortless scene-stealer. There’s one scene—honestly, a genius one that was the rare bright spark in this confusion of a film—where we follow Ja-Young as the chaotic foursome argue and run around and leave, and it’s fascinating watching her process this chaos. We needed more of her.

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Left on the Cutting Room Floor

Someone explain what happened with Bowen Yang’s character, because he is underwritten to the point where he doesn’t make sense. Chris is there because he needs to be there as an obstacle. It feels like a lot of Chris’ scenes were left on the cutting room floor. His backstory is alluded to, and yet, nothing is revealed. This isn’t Yang’s best performance. He underplays Chris’s confusion and hurt—he’s like a cardboard cutout at times.

Han Gi-Chan is the only person in this film who acts like he’s in the movie The Wedding Banquet trailer claimed to be. He’s so funny, and over-the-top, and expressive. He’s the star of this show, and a delight every time he comes on screen. The loudest laughs were because of him. I hope he gets to be in more Hollywood fare now.

A Disappointing, Chaotic Mess

At the start of the screening I attended, they played a video of director Andrew Ahn talking about how he watched the Ang Lee film when he was eight and how it shaped his filmmaking. He was hesitant to remake the classic, but thought to approach it with a question about gay marriage—in a time when gay marriage is possible, should it be? Once you watch the remake, you realize that Ahn’s script is an attempt to answer that question. Except, I don’t understand who else is asking that question, and why they would. One doesn’t have to get married if they’re gay—all anyone wants is the same options and choices as everyone else. The premise of the film is moot, and that’s where it loses its way.

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We love ourselves some disappointing, chaotic and messy characters, but The Wedding Banquet doesn’t know how to develop the characters as people. You don’t dislike the characters; you simply don’t understand them. The stakes feel sanded down; the comedy is virtually absent. The romance, when present, is cute, but the film is far more interested in answering a question no one is asking. Also, where’s the banquet?

The Wedding Banquet opened in theaters on April 18, 2025.

Movie Review: A NICE INDIAN BOY

Monita has been championing diversity, inclusivity, and representation in entertainment media through her work for over a decade. She is a contributor at Bam Smack Pow, and her bylines have appeared on 3-time Eisner Award-winning publication Women Write About Comics, Geek Girl Authority, HuffPost, Reactormag.com (formerly tor.com), Soundsphere/Screensphere, FanSided’s Show Snob, and Vocal. She was also a TV/Movies features writer at Collider.com. Alongside her twin, Monita co-hosts the pop culture podcast Stereo Geeks.

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Movie Reviews

Jeremy Schuetze’s ‘ANACORETA’ (2022) – Movie Review – PopHorror

Published

12 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Jeremy Schuetze’s ‘ANACORETA’ (2022) – Movie Review – PopHorror

PopHorror had the chance to check out Anacoreta (2022) ahead of its streaming release! Does this meta-horror flick provide interesting story telling or is it a confusing mess.

Let’s have a look…

Synopsis

A group of friends heads to a secluded woodland cabin for a weekend getaway, planning to film an experimental horror movie. As the shoot progresses, the project begins to fall apart—until a real and terrifying presence emerges from the darkness.

Anacoreta is directed by Jeremy Schuetze. It was written by Jeremy Schuetze and Matt Visser. The film stars Antonia Thomas (Bagman 2024), Jesse Stanley (Raf 2019), Jeremy Schuetze (Jennifer’s Body 2009), and Matt Visser (A Lot Like Christmas 2021)

My Thoughts

Antonia Thomas delivered an outstanding performance as the female lead in Anacoreta. It was remarkable to watch her convey such a wide range of emotions with authenticity and depth. I was continually impressed by her ability to switch seamlessly between different dialects. I absolutely loved her delivery of the dialogue of telling The Scorpion and the Frog fable.

Anacoreta employs a distinctive, meta-horror style of storytelling. The narrative follows a group of friends creating a “scripted reality” horror film, and as the plot unfolds, the boundary between their staged production and their actual lives becomes increasingly blurred. This was interesting, but at the same time frustrating as a viewer.

Check out Anacoreta on Prime Video and let us know your thoughts!

Movie Reviews

‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

Published

24 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

“So it’s like Avatar?” one character quips in Disney and Pixar’s “Hoppers,” bluntly translating the film’s high-concept premise for the sugar-fueled kids in the audience. And yes, the comparison is apt. The story follows a nature-obsessed teenage girl who manages to quite literally “hop” her consciousness into the body of a robotic beaver in order to spark an animal rebellion against a greedy mayor determined to bulldoze their forest for a freeway.

It’s a clever hook. The kind of big, elastic idea Pixar used to make look effortless. “Hoppers” does not reach the rarified air of “Up,” “Wall-E,” or “Inside Out,” but after a stretch of uneven originals like “Turning Red” and “Luca,” and outright misfires such as “Elemental” and “Elio,” this feels like a genuine course correction. The environmental messaging is clear without being preachy, the animals are irresistibly anthropomorphized, and the studio’s once-signature emotional sincerity is back in sturdy form.

Pixar can afford to gamble on originals when it has a guaranteed cash cow like this summer’s “Toy Story 5” waiting in the wings, but “Hoppers” earns its place in the catalogue. Director Daniel Chong crafts a warm, heartfelt film that occasionally strains under the weight of its own ambition, yet remains grounded by character and theme. Its meditation on conservation and animal displacement feels timely in a way that never tips into after-school-special territory.

We meet Mabel, voiced with bright conviction by Piper Curda, as a child liberating her classroom pets and returning them to the wild. Her moral compass is shaped by her grandmother, voiced by Karen Huie, who imparts wisdom about nature’s sanctity. True to both Pixar tradition and the broader Disney playbook, this beacon of guidance does not survive past the opening act. Loss, after all, is Pixar’s favorite inciting incident.

Years later, Mabel is still fighting the good fight, squaring off against the smarmy Mayor Jerry, voiced with slick menace by Jon Hamm. He plans to flatten the glade where Mabel and her grandmother once found solace. Mabel’s resistance feels noble but futile. The animals have already mysteriously vanished, the machinery is coming, and her last-ditch plan involves luring a beaver back to the abandoned forest in hopes of jumpstarting the ecosystem.

That’s when the film gleefully pivots into mad-scientist territory. At Beaverton University, Mabel discovers her professor, voiced by Kathy Najimy, has developed a device that can project human consciousness into synthetic animals. The process, dubbed “hopping,” allows Mabel to inhabit a robotic beaver and infiltrate the forest from within. It’s an inspired escalation that keeps the film buoyant even when the plotting grows predictable.

Her new posse includes King George, a lovably beaver voiced by Bobby Moynihan with distinct Bing Bong energy; a sharp-tongued bear voiced by Melissa Villaseñor; a regal bird king voiced by the late Isiah Whitlock Jr.; and a fish queen voiced by Ego Nwodim. As is often the case with Pixar, even in its lesser efforts, the world-building is meticulous. The animal hierarchy, complete with titles like “paw of the king,” is layered with jokes that play for kids while slyly winking at adults.

The plot ultimately follows a familiar template. Scrappy underdog rallies community. Corporate villain twirls metaphorical mustache. Emotional third-act sacrifice looms. At times, you can feel the machinery working a little too cleanly. Pixar, and Disney at large, has grown increasingly reliant on sequels and established IP, and “Hoppers” does not radically reinvent the wheel. In an animated landscape where films like “K-Pop: Demon Hunters,” “Across the Spider-Verse,” and “Goat” are pushing stylistic and narrative boundaries, being safe and sturdy may not always be enough.

And yet, there is something refreshing about a Pixar original that remembers how to tug at the heart without squeezing it dry. “Hoppers” is playful, peppered with cheeky needle drops, and builds to a sweet emotional catharsis that may or may not have left this critic a little misty-eyed. It feels earnest and engaged.

“Hoppers” may not be top-tier Pixar. But it is a welcome return to form, a reminder that the studio still knows how to marry big ideas with a bigger heart.

HOPPERS opens in theaters Friday, March 6th.

Movie Reviews

‘Hoppers’ review: Who can argue with hilarious talking animals?

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

‘Hoppers’ review: Who can argue with hilarious talking animals?

Just when you think Pixar’s petting-zoo cute new movie “Hoppers” is flagrantly ripping off James Cameron, the characters come clean.

movie review

HOPPERS

Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG (action/peril, some scary images and mild language). In theaters March 6.

“You guys, this is like ‘Avatar’!,” squeals 19-year-old Mabel (Piper Curda), the studio’s rare college-age heroine.

Shoots back her nutty professor, Dr. Fairfax (Kathy Kajimy): “This is nothing like ‘Avatar!’”

Sorry, Doc, it definitely is. And that’s fine. Placing the smart sci-fi story atop an animated family film feels right for Pixar, which has long fused the technological, the fantastical and the natural into a warm signature blend. Also, come on, “Avatar” is “Dances With Wolves” via “E.T.”

What separates “Hoppers” from the pack of recent Pix flix, which have been wholesome as a church bake sale, is its comic irreverence.

Director Daniel Chong’s original movie is terribly funny, and often in an unfamiliar, warped way for the cerebral and mushy studio. For example, I’ve never witnessed so many speaking characters be killed off in a Pixar movie — and laughed heartily at their offings to boot.

What’s the parallel to Pandora? Mabel, a budding environmental activist, has stumbled on a secret laboratory where her kooky teachers can beam their minds into realistic robot animals in order to study them. They call the devices “hoppers.”

Bold and fiery Mabel — PETA, but palatable — sees an opportunity.

The mayor of Beaverton, Jerry (Jon Hamm), plans to destroy her beloved local pond that’s teeming with wildlife to build an expressway. And the only thing stopping the egomaniacal pol — a more upbeat version of President Business from “The Lego Movie” — is the water’s critters, who have all mysteriously disappeared.

So, Mabel avatars into beaver-bot, and sets off in search of the lost creatures to discover why they’ve left.

From there, the movie written by Jesse Andrews (“Luca”) toys with “Toy Story.” Here’s what mischief fuzzy mammals, birds, reptiles and insects get up to when humans aren’t snooping around. Dance aerobics, it turns out.

Per the usual, “Hoppers” goes deep inside their intricate society. The beasts have a formal political system of antagonistic “Game of Thrones”-like royal houses. The most menacing are the Insect Queen (Meryl Streep — I’d call her a chameleon, but she’s playing a bug), a staunch monarch butterfly and her conniving caterpillar kid (Dave Franco). They’re scheming for power.

Perfectly content with his station is Mabel’s new best furry friend King George (Bobby Moynihan), a gullible beaver who ascended to the throne unexpectedly. He happily enforces “pond rules,” such as, “When you gotta eat, eat.”

That means predators have free rein to nosh on prey, and everybody’s cool with it. Because of bone-dry deliveries, like exhausted office drones, the four-legged cast members are hilarious as they go about their Animal Planet activities.

No surprise — talking lizards, sharks, bears, geese and frogs are the real stars here. They far outshine Mabel, even when she dons beaver attire. Much like a 19-year-old in a job interview, she doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Yes, the teen has a heartfelt motivation: The embattled pond was her late grandma’s favorite place. Mabel promised her that she’d protect it.

But in personality she doesn’t rank as one of Pixar’s most engaging leads, perhaps because she’s past voting age. Mabel is nestled in a nebulous phase between teenage rebellion and adulthood that’s pretty blasé, even if a touch of tension comes from her hiding her Homo sapien identity from her new diminutive pals. When animated, kids make better adventurers, plain and simple.

“Hoppers” continues Pixar’s run of humble, charming originals (“Luca,” “Elio”) in between billion-dollar-grossing, idea-starved sequels (“Inside Out 2,” probably “Toy Story 5”). The Disney-owned studio’s days of irrepressible innovation and unmatched imagination are well behind it. No one’s awed by anything anymore. “Coco,” almost 10 years ago, was their last new property to wow on the scale of peak Pixar.

Look, the new movie is likable and has a brain, heart and ample laughs. That’s more than I can say for most family fare. “A Minecraft Movie” made me wanna hop right out of the theater.